TITLE:
Demands of Parents When Selecting an Elementary School for Their Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review
AUTHORS:
Naohiro Hohashi, Motoko Abe
KEYWORDS:
Autism Spectrum Disorder, Elementary School Enrollment, Parents, Demands, Literature Review
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.15 No.8,
August
18,
2025
ABSTRACT: Background and Purpose: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience great stress and conflict when choosing their child’s pathway to elementary school. This study, through a literature review, aimed to clarify the demands of parents when selecting an elementary school for their children with ASD. Methods: A literature search was conducted in the Japanese literature databases J-STAGE, Ichushi-Web, and CiNii Research using the keywords “autism AND school attendance”; 2274 articles were found, from which 17 articles were analyzed. A directed content analysis was conducted based on Hohashi’s Support Vectors of Family/Family Environment Intervention Model. Demands of parents when selecting a primary school for their children were extracted from the descriptions in the literature and then sub-categorized and categorized. The categories were grouped into one of three systems: family internal environment system, family external environment system, and family chrono environment system. Results: A total of 67 subcategories and 13 categories were extracted. The family internal environment system was comprised of three categories, such as “I want to agree with my spouse”; the family external environment system was comprised of five categories, such as “I want information to be provided”; and the family chrono environment system was comprised of five categories, such as “I have hopes for my child”. Conclusions: It is important for medical professionals to individually evaluate the demands of parents and support them in choosing an appropriate primary school in accordance with those demands.