Assessing an isiZulu questionnaire with educators in primary schools in Pietermaritzburg to establish a baseline of knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

BackgroundAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a significant childhood disorder and has a growing prevalence rate across the world. It has been identified in children from a wide range of racial groups, ethnicities and socio-economic groups, making it a globally relevant disorder. However, a lack of research on ASD in Africa makes it difficult to determine the prevalence rate, presentation and level of knowledge regarding the disorder locally. Therefore, assessing knowledge of ASD amongst professionals is a useful starting point for research in countries where research on ASD is limited. Educators in particular are a vital resource due to the likelihood of their early identification of developmental delays in children of school going age. Awareness studies reveal that professionals have poor awareness of ASD and therefore what educators in South Africa know about ASD needs to be established.MethodsThis study translated the Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers (KCAHW) questionnaire that was originally designed by Bakare and colleagues (Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health 4:17, 2008). The isiZulu KCAHW questionnaire was then used to investigate the level of knowledge of ASD amongst educators in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Fifty (50) educators consented to complete the questionnaire and the data was analysed using the statistical programme SPSS.ResultsThe results suggested that educators have an adequate baseline knowledge of ASD but their knowledge was found to be lacking in specific detail. The mean total score for the educator sample was 13.08 (out of a possible 19) which suggested that educators in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg knew 68% of the symptoms covered in the questionnaire.ConclusionsThe isiZulu KCAHW questionnaire appears to be a useful measure for use in the South African context. It provided significant information regarding educator knowledge of ASD in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg. However, the analysis also showed that whilst the educators had an adequate general knowledge of ASD, they lacked specific insight into the disorder, particularly with regards to etiology and age of onset. Furthermore, the results showed that there is an opportunity for further research and interventions to develop knowledge of ASD within the local context in South Africa.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12887-016-0721-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Teachers’ Knowledge Regarding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Systematic Review

“…Overall, in this review we found a lack of knowledge in most of the articles reviewed coinciding with prior reviews [61,62] and other studies [45]. We found that most of the articles revealed low [64,66,68,71,75,76,79,[84][85][86]95] or medium [65,67,73,74,77,78,80,82,91] levels of knowledge about ASD among their participants, coinciding with prior studies [21,25,36,37]. Indeed, most of the studies showed misconceptions [75,85,91] and gaps, or a lack of knowledge [71,77,85,95].…”

“…In the case of studies with a pre-and post-test, we wrote down the first test result; in the other two situations, we calculated the average among article results. Eleven studies [64,66,68,71,75,76,79,[84][85][86]95] revealed low levels of knowledge regarding ASD among their participants; nine studies [65,67,73,74,77,78,80,82,91] reported medium knowledge, and five studies [65,87,89,90,92] described a high level of knowledge.…”

“…In eight out of 11 of the studies with lower results, PST and ECT participated [64,66,68,71,76,79,85,86]. Regarding studies with higher levels of knowledge, three out of five involved pre-service teachers [87,90,91]; two studies involved college educators [90,92]; and one out of five included secondary education teachers [65]. The other study [89] showed high levels of knowledge gathered from different specialists (special educator teachers, counselors or psychologists).…”

“…The 25 studies took place in 13 different countries around the world. The USA was where most of the studies were found [89,90,92,95]; Malaysia [71,80,87] and Pakistan [67,68,74] contributed three studies each; China [66,82], Saudi Arabia [76,79], Turkey [75,91] and the UK [73,86] carried out two studies each; and Tanzania [64], South Africa [65] Iceland [78], Jordan [84], Spain [85] and Ireland [93] conducted one study each. Only one study compared teachers' knowledge from different countries (China and the UK, [77]).…”

“…teachers' level of knowledge about ASD. n = 177 (PST); G = 151 females and 26 males; Age: 21-30 (8); 31-40 (51);41-50(65); older than 51 (53); EXP = not specified; TR = not specified.Adapted version of KCAHW questionnaire[60]. The authors of the current study suggest that a score of 0-6 indicates a low knowledge of ASD; a score of 7-12 indicates a moderate knowledge; and a score of 13 and above indicates accurate knowledge of ASD.The total mean score on the adapted KCAHW questionnaire was 10.81 out of 16.…”