Background: Autistic children and young people (CYP) experience oral health (OH) inequalities. They are at high risk of dental disease and show significant levels of unmet need in relation to OH and access to dental care.Aim: This study aimed to gather evidence on the factors that influence OH behaviours, access to and delivery of dental care for autistic CYP.Design: This was a mixed‐methods narrative systematic review.Data Sources: Embase, Web of Science, Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source, MEDLINE, Psychinfo, Scopus, CINAHL, SocINDEX and grey literature were the data sources for this study.Review Methods: A systematic search was conducted for qualitative, quantitative and mixed‐methods research studies from countries with a High Development Index that related to OH behaviours, access to and delivery of dental care for autistic CYP. Results were analysed using narrative synthesis.Results: From 59 eligible studies, 9 themes were generated: (1) affordability and accessibility; (2) autism‐related factors and cognitive or motor skill differences; (3) the dental environment; (4) managing CYP's behaviour; (5) responding and adapting to the needs of the autistic CYP and their parent/carer; (6) attitude of dental health professionals (DHPs) towards autistic CYP and their parents/carers; (7) knowledge of how to care for and support CYP's OH; (8) empowerment of parents/carers and collaboration with DHPs; and (9) communication and building rapport.Conclusion: The adoption of healthy OH behaviours and access to dental care by autistic CYP is impacted by a range of factors including those intrinsically related to a diagnosis of autism, for example, communication and those often associated with autism, for example, sensory sensitivities. Access to better OH and dental care can be facilitated by responding to the individual needs of autistic CYP through accommodation, education and adaptation. This necessitates greater awareness and knowledge of autism amongst DHPs and the provision of appropriate services. More methodologically robust intervention studies are needed to identify effective ways to support autistic CYP in achieving good OH and access to dental care.Patient and Public Contribution: The review protocol was developed with members of the project patient and public involvement group who provided the autistic voice, contributing to the interpretation of the review findings and writing of the manuscript.

Acute illness is common in childhood, and it is difficult for healthcare professionals to distinguish seriously ill children from the vast majority with minor or self-limiting illnesses. Safety netting provides parents with advice on when and where to return if their child deteriorates, and it is widely recommended that parents of acutely sick young children should be given safety netting advice. Yet little is known about how and when this is given. We aimed to understand what safety netting advice first contact clinicians give parents of acutely sick young children, how, when, and why.

The development of research with children highlights a number of ethical issues for the research process concerning consent, confidentiality and protection from harm. This article aims to analyse the extent to which these issues have been considered within the published guidance for research involving children. Several key principles emerged: there is consensus that it is unethical not to conduct research with children; consent should be obtained from both the child and the parent or guardian; where the child does not have sufficient understanding of what is involved and the implications of such involvement, the assent of the child should be sought; children involved in research should be made aware that, where information concerning risks to themselves or others emerges, confidentiality cannot be guaranteed; and finally researchers must consider the potential impact of research participation on the child, building methods of providing support to children into the research proposal.

Context: Acute illness is a universal experience in early childhood. Parents find it difficult to determine whether or not their child requires medical care and seek information to inform their decision making. Little is known about parents' information seeking behaviour and what helps or hinders their decision making.Objective: This study aimed to explore parents' use of information resources during decision making in acute childhood illness at home.Design/Method: This exploratory qualitative study used focus groups and interviews to collect data from parents of children under 5 years of age.Setting and participants: Twenty‐seven parents were recruited in the East Midlands, UK, in South Asian and Gypsy/Travelling communities, a Children's Centre and a private sector day nursery.Findings: Parents' pre‐consultation information seeking was dominated by the internet, albeit with limited success. Parents liked easy to access, professionally validated and simple messages with access to more detailed information. Some parents always sought information through personal contact, whilst others did so when independent information seeking failed. When consulting a healthcare professional, parents liked to be given information to refer to later, although the information received varied. Importantly, neither hard copy nor the internet was accessible for parents with low levels of literacy.Discussion and conclusions: Although there is a wealth of information parents can access independently, our findings indicate a need for easy access to clearly signposted, professionally validated resources and available in a range of formats provided through different delivery systems. One size does not fit all.

Acute childhood illness is a universal experience for children and families. This paper presents the central process of a Glaserian grounded theory study which explored family management of acute childhood illness at home. Twenty-nine interviews were conducted with 15 families of children 0—9 years of age. Constant comparative analysis generated the substantive grounded theory ‘Containing acute childhood illness within family life’. This informal social rule was identified from families’ persistent desire to do the right thing, for their child and in the eyes of others in social life. Families perceived that they were expected to contain illnesses which are defined as minor and to seek medical help for ‘real’ illnesses. Considerable uncertainty was evident around defining the illness and the legitimacy of seeking medical help. Their concern with the latter indicates doctors’ role as moral agents for parents’ behaviour, directing the containment of acute childhood illness.

Uncertainty and anxiety surround parents’ decisions to seek medical help for an acutely ill child. Consultation rates for children are rising, yet little is known about factors that influence parents’ help-seeking behaviours. We used focus groups and interviews to examine how 27 parents of children under five years, from a range of socioeconomic groups in the East Midlands of England, use information to make decisions during acute childhood illness at home. This article reports findings elucidating factors that influence help-seeking behaviours. Parents reported that decision-making during acute childhood illness was influenced by a range of personal, social and health service factors. Principal among these was parents’ concern to do the right thing for their child. Their ability to assess the severity of the illness was influenced by knowledge and experience of childhood illness. When parents were unable to access their general practitioner (GP), feared criticism from or had lost trust in their GP, some parents reported using services elsewhere such as Accident and Emergency. These findings contribute to explanatory theory concerning parents’ help-seeking behaviours. Professional and political solutions have not reduced demand; therefore, collaborative approaches involving the public and professionals are now needed to improve parents’ access to information.