The last fifteen years have seen a dramatic increase in both the childbearing age and diversity of women migrating to Canada. The resulting health impact underscores the need to explore access to health services and the related maternal health outcome. This article reports on the results of a scoping review focused on migrant maternal health within the context of accessible and effective health services during pregnancy and following delivery. One hundred and twenty-six articles published between 2000 and 2016 that met our inclusion criteria and related to this group of migrant women, with pregnancy/motherhood status, who were living in Canada, were identified. This review points at complex health outcomes among immigrant and refugee women that occur within the compelling gaps in our knowledge of maternal health during all phases of maternity. Throughout the prenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal periods of maternity, barriers to accessing healthcare services were found to disadvantage immigrant and refugee women putting them at risk for challenging maternal health outcomes. Interactions between the uptake of health information and factors related to the process of immigrant settlement were identified as major barriers. Availability of appropriate services in a country that provides universal healthcare is discussed.

Equal access for autism services remains suboptimal for diverse groups. In Canada, little is known about the barriers immigrant mothers face accessing services and support for their children with developmental disabilities. In this qualitative study, 21 immigrant mothers of children with Autism, from a diverse ethno cultural background, were interviewed in Toronto, Canada. We apply House’s (1981) four domains of social support to analyze findings. Structural support challenges, such as delays in diagnosis, fragmented and dispersed services were common, followed by instrumental challenges due to loss of social ties and stigma. Lack of expected support from partners, and negative perceptions of services, were identified as emotional and perceptive challenges. Focused attention is required to address inequalities within the context of current access pathways for autism.

Protection of privacy of information for young adults with developmental disabilities and their families is essential to promote quality of life, well-being, empowerment, and inclusion. Despite this, the young adults’ information privacy rights are increasingly at risk. This paper provides a scoping review, applying Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) approach, of all published peer-reviewed journal articles and gray literature to examine the barriers and facilitators in utilization of legislation that protects the collection, use, disclosure, and access of personal information in Canada. The scoping review process was further expanded with a rigorous reliability method and applied a socio-ecological framework to the final 47 studies. National and international policy and legislation (macro level), organization-based factors (meso), young adults and community interactions (exo), and individual disability related factors (micro) are examined. The review identifies the barriers and highlights the importance of facilitators for acting on personal privacy rights.

Geneva Centre for Autism, 6 The Hospital for Sick Children BACKGROUND: Feeding difficulties affect up to 80% of children with ASD starting as early as 6 months of age. Food selectivity (FS) is the most commonly reported phenomenon by families and can lead to parental stress, strained parent-child interactions, and long-term health consequences such as nutrient deficiency, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. FS is often chronic and resistant to treatment, but behavioural interventions for FS are supported. While successful, such interventions can be costly and resource intensive, and results may not be maintained over time. Video modeling intervention (VMI) is a promising new approach that incorporates video modeling (VM), where a child is expected to imitate the behaviour of interest after viewing a video recording of it. VM has been successful in teaching a variety of skills to children with ASD, including, play, communication, and daily living skills, but to our knowledge has not been attempted as a VM strategy targeting feeding behaviours in ASD. OBJECTIVES: This project serves as the starting point in investigating whether a VMI will increase food variety in preschoolers with ASD and a history of food refusal. Our objective is to develop a novel VM tool incorporating applied behavioural analysis strategies to deliver feeding intervention to preschoolers with ASD. DESIGN/METHODS: An iPad application with an animated model will be developed based on operant conditioning and systematic desensitization. Input was collected from a developmental panel (behavioural therapist, occupational therapist, speech language pathologist, engineer, animator, family team leader) to design the initial prototype. Themes generated from two focus groups consisting of clinicians with expertise in ASD and parents of preschoolers with ASD will address LEApp's core design. Initial user testing and feedback regarding the application will be collected to revise LEApp. RESULTS: Our preliminary prototype (Figure 1 and 2) was created based on an initial literature review and with concepts derived from feeding intervention outlined by our developmental panel. The application will be modified pending the results of the focus group discussions. CONCLUSION: Project LEApp represents the first step in the creation and exploration of a novel tool that has the potential to impact an essential skill early in the lives of children with ASD. By involving children, their parents and multidisciplinary specialists throughout the process, LEApp has the potential not only to impact feeding outcomes, but can also be shared and utilized universally by families in any setting, thus filling a need in existing feeding intervention.