‘World-first’ FASD guidelines revealed for Australia

World-first national guidelines for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have been released in Australia, with hopes to improve assessment and diagnosis of the condition.

New guidelines for the assessment and diagnosis of FASD have been released, lead by a research team at the University of Queensland. Picture: UQ

World-first national guidelines for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have been released in Australia, with hopes to improve assessment and diagnosis of the condition.

FASD is the leading cause of non-genetic disability in Australia, but until now there hadn’t been a formal set of guidelines approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

“We really hope that (the guidelines are) going to enhance assessment and diagnostic practices for the country, and really improve service accessibility,” said Dr Natasha Reid, a clinical psychologist who led the project.

“We also hope that it’s just going to increase awareness and then reduce some of the stigma that can be around the condition.”

FASD is a neurodevelopmental condition caused by prenatal alcohol exposure which can cause a range of physical, behavioural and cognitive abnormalities.

Dr Reid recently supported Cairns Post’s Cause and Effect campaign, calling for improved accessibility of FASD testing for at-risk children in Queensland.

Waiting times for public FASD assessment in Queensland can be up to two years, with private assessments costing thousands of dollars.

The four-year-long project to develop the guidelines was led by Dr Reid’s team at the University of Queensland’s Child Health Research Centre, in collaboration with more than 40 organisations, and with funding from the Department of Health and Aged Care.

Dr Reid leads the University of Queensland’s Child Health Research Centre. Picture: Marc Grimwade / Supplied

The guidelines include a world-first evidence review of the global literature on FASD, which informed updated diagnostic criteria to be used in Australia.

“This had never been done before in our field … this was really a world-first process to the extent that we went to,” Dr Reid said of the evidence review.

The consortium also consulted extensively with FASD stakeholders to develop the guidelines, including health professionals, cultural experts, and people with lived experience of FASD.

“We spent a lot of time … making sure the (guidelines) really address a lot of those areas that have been raised by all the key stakeholders … about what they wanted to see changed and how we could improve the processes,” Dr Reid said.

“We hope that this means that more health professionals will feel that these are trustworthy, that they’re guidelines that they can use and want to use in their practice.

FASD assessments require a multidisciplinary team of health professionals. Picture: iStock

“And then that will mean that more health professionals will be willing to consider FASD as a potential diagnostic outcome and then know how to assess for it as well.”

Dr Reid said one of their key goals was to communicate the urgent need to improve accessibility to FASD assessment and diagnostic services in Australia.

“We really wanted to put forward a process in these guidelines that encourages all practitioners to be involved in the assessment process, so that we can try … and make it more accessible.

“Because at the moment, FASD tends to be more typically diagnosed more in specialist clinic settings.”

Dr Reid said while health professionals would be the guidelines’ primary users, they would be beneficial to other stakeholders, including those seeking FASD assessments or those in the education, justice or child protection sectors.

“The earlier we identify children (with FASD), the better their long-term outcomes,” Dr Reid said.

“Because then the right supports can be put in place, with the aim of avoiding those sort of adverse outcomes for children and young people in the future.”

Originally published as ‘World-first’ FASD guidelines revealed for Australia