Attitudes Toward Autism Spectrum Disorders Among Students of Allied Health Professions

Abstract

The prevalence of autism has increased dramatically. The objectives of this study were to explore attitudes toward prenatal diagnosis to detect autism prenatally and avoid having an affected child and to understand social acceptability of these disorders among students of allied health professions. In this study, college students of nursing and health systems management answered a structured self-report questionnaire (n = 305). The first part addressed the respondent's personal data. The second part targeted the respondent's attitudes toward prenatal diagnosis of non-life-threatening disorders, including autism spectrum disorders. We found that almost two thirds of the students responded that they would not proceed with a pregnancy if the child were diagnosed with autism, and more than half thought that they would not continue with a pregnancy if the fetus were diagnosed with Asperger's. Age, level of religiosity, and years of education were influential. This study is limited in scope; however, the positive attitude of the students toward prenatal diagnosis to avoid having an affected child might also reflect a negative view of autism spectrum disorders in future health care professionals. Further research of attitudes and the social acceptability of autism spectrum disorders, particularly among health care professionals, is required.

Reprogenetics, reproductive risks and cultural awareness: what may we learn from Israeli and Croatian medical students?

“…The scores were calculated from the percentage of correct answers provided by the respondents (correct answer = 1; incorrect answer = 0). Previous research reported satisfactory test-retest reliability (0.77, 0.69, and 0.71, respectively, for the three scores pertaining to understanding) [23, 25].…”

“…One possible limitation of this study is its potential lack of representability, as the sample was obtained from only one medical school in each country. In addition, although the questionnaire was tested in previous research on the population in Israel [23, 25], the sample size is rather small and does not allow to examine whether the structure of the measurment tool is similar in the Croatian population. Nonetheless, with reference to the Israeli participants in the research, similarities were found between attitudes of Israeli MS in the present study and a previous similar study focusing on Israeli students of Allied Healthcare Professions, as well as a study on attitudes toward genetic tools among the Israeli population [23, 25].…”

“…The students were administered a structured self-report questionnaire (see Additional file 1). Originally, the questionnaire was developed for two recently published studies among allied health profession students and laypeople in Israel [23, 25]. Israeli students answered a structured self-report questionnaire in Hebrew, while the Questionnaire for the Croatian students was prepared by a double translation of the questionnaire’s published English version.…”