A Comparative Study of Rurality and Urbanicity on Access to and Satisfaction with Services for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Little is known about services for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) living in rural areas. The purpose of this study was to examine parent report of access to and satisfaction with services for children with ASD in rural areas and compare results to parents from urban areas. Parents in both groups reported children were diagnosed after the age of 3 and experienced challenges accessing services, trained professionals, and educators. Parents from rural areas reported significantly more difficulty accessing trained physicians and professionals in their areas. The implications of this study and needed future research are discussed.

Pre-diagnostic and Diagnostic Stages of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Parent Perspective

“…At this stage, parents need to take steps to make an appointment with or contact their child's doctors or other professionals (e.g., occupational therapists in schools) in their immediate help circle. Length of behavioral delay is impacted by parents' perceived urgency of the problem, access to health insurance Starfield & Shi, 2004), access to care (e.g., rural areas have less access to diagnostic services; Murphy & Ruble, 2012;Thomas & Holzer, 2006), and access to needed resources to support the process (e.g., financial resources; Mandell et al, 2005). Parents' knowledge about accessible help and ability to seek help from professionals (e.g., access to internet, time to search for diagnostic information and make appointments) are also impact the length of behavioral delay.…”

Hospital psychosocial interventions for patients with brain functional impairment: A retrospective cohort study

“…Patients admitted to principal referral hospitals had greater access to psychosocial interventions as principal referral hospitals with high patient volume offer more specialised psychiatric services when compared with their counterparts (South Western Sydney Local Health District ; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) ), which may explain the observed positive association between admission to principal referral hospitals and use of psychosocial interventions for all three patient groups. In addition, lack of access to psychosocial services was reported in rural areas (Murphy & Ruble ), which might contribute to the observed variation in this study, for example, fewer patients with brain functional impairment received psychosocial interventions in rural areas compared with their counterparts in urban areas. Although telehealth approaches demonstrated feasibility to delivery psychosocial interventions in access‐limited environment (Hepburn et al .…”

Service Delivery Experiences and Intervention Needs of Military Families with Children with ASD

“…Military spouses were asked to indicate their level of need (i.e., no need, low need, medium need, high need) for specific interventions and services for their child and for their family. The list of interventions and services was adapted from a list provided to parents of children with ASD in a survey by Murphy and Ruble (2012).…”

“…Sixty-four percent of parents also reported at least one family need related to genetic counseling (70.5 %), respite care (70.1 %) and/or family mental health (63 %; Farmer et al 2014). Murphy and Ruble (2012) asked parents of children with ASD (who lived in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas) to prioritize a list of services based on need. The needs of each group were similar with both metropolitan and non-metropolitan parents ranking social skills training, speech-language therapy, and behavior management as part of their top four needs (Murphy and Ruble 2012).…”

“…Murphy and Ruble (2012) asked parents of children with ASD (who lived in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas) to prioritize a list of services based on need. The needs of each group were similar with both metropolitan and non-metropolitan parents ranking social skills training, speech-language therapy, and behavior management as part of their top four needs (Murphy and Ruble 2012). While service delivery issues and unmet needs are common for many parents in a variety of different life circumstances, a subset of the ASD population may be at even greater risk for these challenges and needs-military families.…”