Evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders - A systematic review.

Brain function deficits cause strong negative impacts for the everyday lives of children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Therefore, evidence-based intervention programs that are specifically designed for patients with FASD are needed but still scarce. The aim of the presented article is a systematic literature review of evidence-based intervention strategies for children and adolescents with FASD. A comprehensive systematic literature search was conducted in several relevant databases to identify randomized-controlled intervention studies for children and adolescents with FASD. We identified 25 randomized-controlled studies regarding interventions in FASD. Overall, evidence indicating that some therapeutic interventions are effective in children and adolescents with FASD was found. Even though evidence-based interventions rarely lead to improvements of performance into a "normal range", those measures can alleviate negative consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure and relieve daily burdens. There are only a few randomized-controlled trials regarding therapy research for children and adolescents with FASD. Their results indicate that especially the combination of parent and child sessions present a promising approach for the treatment of FASD. Positive treatment effects of interventions seem to be domain specific, except for interventions regarding self-regulation or social interaction.

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Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest The project ‘German Competence Center Bavaria’ (Deutsches FASD KOMPETENZZENTRUM Bayern) receives financial support from the Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care, the German Federal Ministry of Health, the private foundation Robert-Vogel-Stiftung (RVS), and the non-profit organization Soziale Beratungs-und Betreuungsdienste (SBB) Bayern gGmbH. The funding bodies had no role in the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication. Apart from this funding, the authors declare no competing interests.