Autism in Viet Nam: A systematic scoping review

Autism research has predominantly focused on Western contexts, with limited studies in Vietnamese cultural settings. Through conducting a systematic scoping review, we aimed to map (a) the landscape of autism research in Vietnamese cultural contexts, (b) the quality of the research, and (c) the extent of autism community involvement in the research. A total of 137 studies met our inclusion criteria. A growing body of literature pertained to autism in Vietnamese cultural contexts, largely conducted in Viet Nam (87%). Much of the literature focused on Services and Supports (39%), as well as Interventions (20%). Key themes identified from the research were the centrality of family, the importance of school and education, and identifying a cause of autism. Quality appraisals of the studies - using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, a Westernised tool - indicated that the studies were largely of low quality. There was limited autism community involvement in the research, with studies often lacking an explicit description of the nature of community involvement. Priority areas for future research include better understanding how rigour is understood in a Vietnamese research context, improving the clarity of data reporting and actively involving the Vietnamese autism community in the research process.Lay abstractAutism research has mostly focused on Western contexts, with few studies in Vietnamese cultural contexts. In this study, we reviewed all the research we could find on autism in Vietnamese cultural contexts, to map out what this research 'looks like'. We found 137 studies on autism in Vietnamese cultural contexts, and most of this research was conducted in Viet Nam. The studies were often focused in the areas of Services and Supports as well as Interventions. Looking for common themes in the research, we found that studies emphasised the importance of family, the importance of school and education, and the need to find the causes of autism. We used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, a Westernised tool, to evaluate the quality of the research, and we found that a lot of the research was rated as 'low quality'. There were few examples of clear autism community involvement in the research. Key areas for the field to focus on in the future include reflecting on how the quality of the research is evaluated in Global South countries such as Viet Nam, and how best to include the autism community in the research process.