Developing an Application for Screening and Determining Severity of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Primary Health Care Centers

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a set of neurodevelopmental disorders that affects not only the child but also the entire family. The disorder is diagnosed by observing the child's behaviors and activities. Timely screening and determining severity improve the child's abilities. The main purpose of this study was to develop an application for screening and determining severity of autism spectrum disorder in primary health care centers.

This research was a developmental-applied study. For determining data elements, a researcher-made questionnaire was designed and need assessment was conducted based on the opinions of five pediatric psychiatrists. Based on the results, a prototype of the smartphone application was designed which was provided to 30 health workers in primary health care centers to evaluate its usability. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics via SPSS software (version 16).

The participating physicians recognized all data elements of the questionnaire essential. Five areas included communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem-solving and personal-social were put in the software, each of which with full subclasses and explanations. The results showed that health workers evaluated the usability of the application at a good level.

Smartphone applications could be helpful for health workers in early screening and determining severity of autism in order to enhance children's cognitive and functional activities and reduce referrals to more specialized centers for screening and determining severity of autism.