Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Jun 13, 2025
Date Accepted: Dec 24, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Digital Health Interventions for Sexual Health Education Among Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience significant barriers to accessing comprehensive and developmentally appropriate sexual health education. Conventional curricula often exclude the needs of this population, increasing their vulnerability to sexual exploitation and misinformation. Digital health interventions have emerged as promising tools for delivering tailored, interactive, and accessible sexual education for adolescents with ASD
Objective:
This scoping review aimed to systematically map and synthesize existing evidence on digital health interventions designed to provide sexual health education to adolescents with ASD.
Methods:
Following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, enhanced by the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines, a scoping review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA-ScR standards. Six databases (PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Web of Science) were searched from 2010 to June 2025. Eligible studies involved adolescents aged 10–19 with ASD, used digital platforms to deliver sexual or reproductive health education, and were published in English. Two independent reviewers conducted study selection, data extraction, and synthesis using descriptive and thematic approaches
Results:
From 243 records screened, 16 studies were included. Most studies originated from high-income countries and employed video-based, web-based, or mobile interventions. Common themes included the importance of personalization, visual interactivity, and parent-mediated delivery. Reported outcomes included improvements in knowledge, behavioral understanding, and user acceptability. However, evidence quality varied, with frequent limitations such as small samples, lack of control groups, and limited gender-specific or culturally adapted content. Co-design with autistic adolescents and implementation in low-resource settings were notably scarce
Conclusions:
Digital health interventions show promising potential for delivering inclusive, engaging, and developmentally appropriate sexual health education to adolescents with ASD. Integration into broader educational and healthcare systems is essential to support equitable access and empowerment for neurodiverse youth
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