Cannabis medicinal no tratamento do transtorno do espectro autista: análise de evidências e suporte para construção de um chatbot para a comunicação da ciência

Abstract

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests clinically with impairment in social interaction and communication, as well as stereotyped and repetitive behaviors. There is an increase in the incidence of autism cases around the world and its predominance in males can be observed. Autistic people can be diagnosed at three levels depending on the need for support to carry out routine activities. The disorder may have several associated comorbidities, it has no proven cause, nor pharmacological treatment, only behavioral. However, there is a search for alternative treatments to treat the symptoms of autism, such as the medicinal use of cannabis, which has shown to be a possible alternative to treat anxiety, depression, social interaction deficits and other markers that the literature has proven. The limitation of the use of this treatment is the low number of quality experimental studies that attest to long-term safety and efficacy, in addition to the misinformation caused by Fake News on the subject, since the recreational use of cannabis is criminalized in Brazil and its medicinal use is limited. This project seeks to be an ally of health education by developing an artificial conversational agent called a chatbot called CISMA (Informative Chatbot About Marijuana) that provides information about the medicinal use of cannabis in treating the symptoms of autism. The tool had a good evaluation by experts on the subject and good usability attested by potential users. With this, it was possible to conclude that CISMA is a powerful ally of health communication and education, however there is a need for more robust studies with certified quality on the proposed intervention, so that the tool can be updated with quality information.