Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People

Williams, Gemma; Corbyn, Jill; Hart, Angie

doi:10.1080/13575279.2022.2126437

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Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People

Gemma Williams

, Jill Corbyn, Angie Hart

Child Care in Practice, Volume: 29, Issue: 1, Pages: 35 - 53

Swansea University Author: Gemma Williams

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© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/13575279.2022.2126437

Abstract

Poor mental health—compared to that of the neurotypical child population—is a serious concern for many autistic children and young people around the world. In the UK, we have an increasing number of autistic young people receiving care in NHS funded in-patient mental health facilities. While sensory...

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Published in:	Child Care in Practice
ISSN:	1357-5279 1476-489X
Published:	Informa UK Limited 2023
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63296
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first_indexed	2023-05-21T20:34:04Z
last_indexed	2023-05-21T20:34:04Z
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spelling	v2 63296 2023-05-02 Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People c457f01f621c5274656e591f782f52a8 0000-0002-5162-0440 Gemma Williams Gemma Williams true false 2023-05-02 PHAC Poor mental health—compared to that of the neurotypical child population—is a serious concern for many autistic children and young people around the world. In the UK, we have an increasing number of autistic young people receiving care in NHS funded in-patient mental health facilities. While sensory processing differences have now been added to international diagnostic criteria for autism, recent autistic-led and co-produced, practice-based research commissioned by the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce and delivered by National Development Team for Inclusion has identified that knowledge of autistic sensory differences and needs is institutionally absent. In particular, the sensory environments of NHS England-funded in-patient facilities were found to present sometimes extreme challenges for autistic young people that at best hinder wellbeing and at worst exacerbate existing mental health problems:instigating a cycle of progressing upwards through increasingl yrestrictive settings for some. This paper shares some of this learning, gained from the consultation with young autistic people who have experience of inpatient services and autistic Experts by Experience working on novel sensory ward environment reviews.Wefirst introduce the framing of autism as primarily shaped by sensory and social processing differences and outline the significance of this perspective for the in-patient care of autistic young people and children. We then provide an overview of the current sensory challenges that exist in inpatient mental health facilities for autistic children and young people. Finally, we conclude with some suggestions for areas of future research around the impact of adapting ward environments, that have promise for broader and international settings Journal Article Child Care in Practice 29 1 35 53 Informa UK Limited 1357-5279 1476-489X Mental health, autistic children and young people, sensory differences, sensory environments, NHS England 2 1 2023 2023-01-02 10.1080/13575279.2022.2126437 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2022.2126437 COLLEGE NANME Public Health COLLEGE CODE PHAC Swansea University ESRC 2023-06-09T15:24:05.7511358 2023-05-02T12:39:27.9793943 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Health and Social Care - Public Health Gemma Williams 0000-0002-5162-0440 1 Jill Corbyn 2 Angie Hart 0000-0002-5034-5950 3 63296__27797__05bf090461b34388805fcef961e985a2.pdf 63296.pdf 2023-06-09T15:23:05.1519565 Output 1963368 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People
spellingShingle	Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People Gemma Williams
title_short	Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People
title_full	Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People
title_fullStr	Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People
title_full_unstemmed	Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People
title_sort	Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People
author_id_str_mv	c457f01f621c5274656e591f782f52a8
author_id_fullname_str_mv	c457f01f621c5274656e591f782f52a8_***_Gemma Williams
author	Gemma Williams
author2	Gemma Williams Jill Corbyn Angie Hart
format	Journal article
container_title	Child Care in Practice
container_volume	29
container_issue	1
container_start_page	35
publishDate	2023
institution	Swansea University
issn	1357-5279 1476-489X
doi_str_mv	10.1080/13575279.2022.2126437
publisher	Informa UK Limited
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url	http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2022.2126437
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description	Poor mental health—compared to that of the neurotypical child population—is a serious concern for many autistic children and young people around the world. In the UK, we have an increasing number of autistic young people receiving care in NHS funded in-patient mental health facilities. While sensory processing differences have now been added to international diagnostic criteria for autism, recent autistic-led and co-produced, practice-based research commissioned by the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce and delivered by National Development Team for Inclusion has identified that knowledge of autistic sensory differences and needs is institutionally absent. In particular, the sensory environments of NHS England-funded in-patient facilities were found to present sometimes extreme challenges for autistic young people that at best hinder wellbeing and at worst exacerbate existing mental health problems:instigating a cycle of progressing upwards through increasingl yrestrictive settings for some. This paper shares some of this learning, gained from the consultation with young autistic people who have experience of inpatient services and autistic Experts by Experience working on novel sensory ward environment reviews.Wefirst introduce the framing of autism as primarily shaped by sensory and social processing differences and outline the significance of this perspective for the in-patient care of autistic young people and children. We then provide an overview of the current sensory challenges that exist in inpatient mental health facilities for autistic children and young people. Finally, we conclude with some suggestions for areas of future research around the impact of adapting ward environments, that have promise for broader and international settings
published_date	2023-01-02T15:24:04Z
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Improving the Sensory Environments of Mental Health in-patient Facilities for Autistic Children and Young People

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