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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

The Snoezelen room approach and quality of life: a research protocol on sensory and emotional well-being in individuals with autism spectrum disorder

EV0191A - SNOEZELEN ROOM APPROACH AND QUALITY OF LIFE: A RESEARCH PROTOCOL ON SENSORY AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING IN INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD) (ID 4030)

Preliminary findings from the multisensory Snoezelen room intervention suggest improvements in behavioral regulation in adults with autism spectrum disorder, while quality-of-life outcomes appear more variable.

The study aims to examine the role of the Snoezelen Room (SR) approach, which is based on a structured multisensory environment and a nondirective method, in supporting emotional well-being in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as their subjective experiences and the generalization of effects to daily life, incorporating caregivers’ perspectives; its conceptual framework is Schalock and Verdugo’s quality-of-life model. The study uses a pre–post design, with a sample comprising eight adults with level 1 ASD and eight adults with level 2 ASD; data are collected through both self-report and proxy assessment using the Personal Outcomes Scale (POS) for perceived quality of life and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) for behavioral changes, and structured observation forms specific to SR sessions are completed after each session. In the participant with level 2 ASD, ABC scores indicated improvements across several behavioral domains: hyperactivity decreased from 10 to 6, inappropriate speech from 7 to 5, and stereotypic behaviors from 1 to 0; lethargy decreased slightly from 21 to 20, while irritability remained unchanged at 10. Quality-of-life outcomes were more heterogeneous: in the participant with level 2 ASD, social inclusion increased slightly, while interpersonal relationships and physical and material well-being remained stable. In the level 1 ASD subgroup (N = 4), overall quality of life increased from 41.00 to 42.50, physical well-being from 13.25 to 14.25, emotional well-being from 14.00 to 14.25, and material well-being from 13.75 to 14.00; three of the four self-report assessments indicated slight improvements in overall quality of life, while one indicated no change. The authors state that these preliminary results, based on a small sample, support the potential of Snoezelen-based multisensory environments as a complementary approach to supporting well-being in adults with ASD. The finding that positive changes occurred predominantly in domains closely related to sensory regulation and physical well-being indicates that individual characteristics, such as support needs and sensory profiles, should be incorporated into the assessment and that further data collection is needed to understand the magnitude of the effects.

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