City Research Online

Experiences of autism diagnosis: A survey of over 1000 parents in the United Kingdom

Crane, L., Chester, J. W., Goddard, L. , Henry, L. ORCID: 0000-0001-5422-4358 & Hill, E. L. ORCID: 0000-0003-3130-1271 (2016). Experiences of autism diagnosis: A survey of over 1000 parents in the United Kingdom. Autism, 20(2), pp. 153-162. doi: 10.1177/1362361315573636

Abstract

A sample of 1047 parents completed an online survey about their experiences and opinions regarding the process of attaining a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder for their children. The results revealed that parents usually waited a year from when they first had concerns about their child's development before they sought professional help. On average, there was a delay of around 3.5 years from the point at which parents first approached a health professional with their concerns to the confirmation of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Just over half of the parents surveyed were dissatisfied with the diagnostic process as a whole. Several factors predicted parents' overall levels of satisfaction with the diagnostic process, including the time taken to receive a diagnosis, satisfaction with the information provided at diagnosis, the manner of the diagnosing professional, the stress associated with the diagnostic process and satisfaction with post-diagnostic support. Post-diagnosis, the support (if any) that was provided to parents was deemed unsatisfactory, and this was highlighted as an area of particular concern among parents.

Publication Type: Article
Additional Information: Copyright Sage 2015
Publisher Keywords: autism, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), diagnosis, parent, survey, satisfaction, support
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics
Departments: School of Health & Psychological Sciences
SWORD Depositor:
[thumbnail of ACCEPTED VERSION PARENT AUTISM DIAGNOSIS SURVEY.pdf]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
Download (282kB) | Preview

Export

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

Actions (login required)

Admin Login Admin Login