Seeing the doctor without fear: www.doctortea.org for the desensitization for medical visits in Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Published in: Revista de psiquiatria y salud mental Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 28
• Main Authors: Boada, Leticia, Parellada, Mara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Spanish
• Published: Spain 01.01.2017
• Subjects: Anxiety - etiology; Anxiety - prevention & control; Anxiety - psychology; Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology; Child; Desensitization, Psychologic - methods; Fear - psychology; Humans; Internet; Patient Education as Topic - methods; Physician-Patient Relations; Disability; Autism; Phobia; Systematic desensitisation; Anxiety; Ansiedad; Autismo; Desensibilización sistemática; Discapacidad; Fobia
• ISSN: 1989-4600
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rpsm.2016.09.005

Doctor Tea is an online website designed to facilitate medical visits for those with autism spectrum disorder and other disabilities. People diagnosed with autism not only have greater medical needs than the general population, but also have particular characteristics that are often not accommodated by medical services. This lack of medical accommodation often creates a very complicated, and sometimes traumatic experience, when visiting medical facilities. Individuals with autism have great difficulty understanding social situations and contexts, such as medical tests or consultations, as well as difficulty in tolerating new situations and atypical sensory thresholds. Doctor Tea aims to reduce anxiety before medical consultations and procedures from a safe and well-known environment (school, home, etc.). The website, www.doctortea.org, provides information and materials (videos, cartoon, 3D animations, pictogram sequences, etc.) about the most frequent medical procedures and practices for patients with autism. The website also offers information to the doctors and families of patients with autism about the most common medical problems associated with autism. A total of 17,199 different users visited the website during 2015, with a total of 23,348 online visitors from more than 70 different countries since the website's release in November 2014. The familiarisation with the medical procedures and its environment appears to decrease the anxiety in patients with disabilities during medical visits, as well as optimising the effectiveness of their medical visits and tests.