Children's Autism Technology-Assisted Assessments (CHATA) - Version 2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Novel Procedures for Evaluating Autism Online in an Ethnically Diverse Population of Children
IRAS ID
320499
Contact name
Michelle Heys
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Noclor on behalf of East London NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 30 days
Research summary
Current assessments for autism are costly, time-intensive, and have limited validity in ethnically diverse populations. There is a need for novel, brief, and culturally-sensitive autism diagnostic assessments. The Children's Autism Technology-Assisted Assessments (CHATA) project aims to develop and empirically examine a new autism diagnostic pathway for children up to five years old, which will be offered almost exclusively via Telehealth within East London NHS Foundation Trust's (ELFT) Autism Assessment Service in Newham. We aim to create and test a validated, acceptable, efficient, and feasible methodology for the evaluation of suspected autism that, when fully implemented, will be applicable to communities throughout the UK, irrespective of their ethnic diversity and which will be tailored to surmount language barriers. Two studies will be conducted to test our telehealth assessment pathway. Initially, a pilot study (n= 35) will compare the new assessment with the conventional care-as-usual autism assessment. Then, an implementation study will run (n= 115), which will further explore the psychometric qualities and acceptability of the new telehealth assessment model.
REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/LO/0751
Date of REC Opinion
9 Nov 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion