Parc Taulí launches a pioneering program for the care of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder during the transition to adulthood
- Posted In:
- News
- No Comments
The TAVA program will monitor these patients during the period from 18 to 21 years, for better integration and quality of life. Parc Taulí Mental Health will care for 100 patients with autism spectrum disorders as part of the TAVA program.
The Parc Taulí Mental Health Service has organized a multidisciplinary work team, made up of professionals in psychiatry, psychology, social work and nursing, to address the adult life of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) , transferring the ever-widening knowledge of how to act during childhood.
The new program, called TAVA, responds to a repeatedly manifest need of patients and associations of relatives in Sabadell and its area of reference: to be able to access expert professionals who facilitate the integrated interventions that have been demanded for a long time.
The incidence of autism spectrum disorder in our environment affects 1 in 150 people. People with ASD have communication and social integration difficulties. In addition, in most cases they have a high degree of associated disability.
In recent years, greater knowledge of the disorder has become a challenge for Parc Taulí Mental Health professionals, and they have set out to tackle it by creating a new program to care for these people right on arrival at the majority of age.
Patients with this type of disorder have a higher risk of suffering a therapeutic discontinuity in the process of changing professionals in their care in the transition to adulthood. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry area of the Parc Taulí Hospital has been facilitating access to interventions based on good practices and scientific evidence for years, giving continuity, in many cases, to early interventions carried out from the Center for Child Development and Early Care of Parc Taulí. The TAVA program will provide care for two years to 100 patients between the ages of 18 and 21.
Pioneering program in the attention to the TEA
In the TAVA program, individual and group interventions are carried out with people with ASD to address the deficits of the disorder and other associated pathologies, in an integrated way and in coordination with the educational and employment services of the area. Support and training is given to families, placing them at the center of the intervention and collaborating continuously with them, working for greater autonomy and social integration of those affected. In addition, the program aims to improve knowledge of this disorder in the medical field and raise awareness among other professionals, through the support and training of professionals from Mental Health Parc Taulí and other colleagues outside the field.
Given that there are no similar models in our environment and that there is little literature on what are the most appropriate interventions in people with ASD at this time in life, the group has held working meetings for several months and will conduct an evaluation of the program in order to demonstrate its usefulness and necessity. This will make it possible to establish dynamics for improvement and ensure its continuity through specific funding that is needed in the medium term.
The TAVA program team proposes that the evidence found in improving the outcomes of integration and quality of life of people with ASD, support specific funding programs that ensure its viability.
Leave a Reply