Interventions for Work-related Distress Among Paediatric Nurses: A Systematic Review & Concordance of the SCQ and ADOS in Identifying Autism Symptomatology in Genetic Syndrome Groups

Interventions for Work-related Distress Among Paediatric Nurses: A Systematic Review

Objective To critically appraise the empirical evidence regarding effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for the mitigation of work-related distress (WRD) among nurses working in paediatric settings. Methods A systematic search was performed across six bibliographic databases; a narrative framework for synthesis was employed. Results Seven studies were elicited for review: these evaluated interventions with diverse foci, utilising highly heterogenous measures to evaluate effectiveness. Whilst five of the studies reported statistically significant improvements on measures of WRD, and another a statistically significant increase on a WRD construct within one group of participants, the only RCT reported no significant effects of the intervention. Conclusions Given the infancy of research, heterogeneity and variable quality, specific recommendations are precluded from findings to date. Further research is required to build an evidence-based case to guide policy and resource allocation.

Concordance of the SCQ and ADOS in Identifying Autism Symptomatology in Genetic Syndrome Groups

Objective To assess the performance of an autism screening tool, the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) in relation to the more “gold-standard” Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) within genetic syndrome populations, in which social, communication and behavioural difficulties, and levels of intellectual disability, are also commonly present. Methods Using archival data, performance of the SCQ was examined in relation to ADOS classifications in genetic syndrome groups via ROC curve, sensitivity, and specificity analyses. Results At established cut-off the SCQ achieved a sensitivity value of 63.91% and specificity of 61.39%. Analyses by genetic syndrome group suggested uneven test performance, however confidence intervals were wide, with considerable overlap between groups. Conclusions Findings suggested the SCQ may perform less well for ASD associated with genetic syndromes than for idiopathic ASD. This may have implications, both clinical and theoretical, for identifying ASD in these groups.