No exclusions – developing an autism diagnostic service for adults irrespective of intellectual ability

Davidson, Conor James; Kam, Alwyn; Needham, Frances; Stansfield, Alison

doi:10.1108/aia-08-2015-0010

Cited by 6 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The LADS has been undertaking diagnostic assessments for over five years. During that time we have continually scrutinised our outcomes and questioned the validity of what we do, amending the pathway when improvements are suggested or issues arise (Davidson et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The clinical pathway used by the LADS (Davidson et al, 2015) includes five stages (Figure 1). The initial stage is where an initial pack is sent in the post which includes the AQ, EQ and RQ alongside other information.…”

Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Crucially this service is for adults with no upper age limit or minimum intellectual ability requirements, and therefore the results will be representative of an all-inclusive population of adults using the AAA as a screening instrument for the purpose of diagnosing ASD. The LADS team accept referrals from a variety of areas such as; primary care, self-referral and Adult Mental Health Services (Davidson et al, 2015).…”

Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited. presentation of a clinical population (Davidson et al, 2015). In addition, although the original study that measured the AAA (Baron-Cohen et al, 2005) did use a clinical population, the sample size was small (n¼42) and furthermore the sample size of those not diagnosed was extremely limited (n¼8).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How useful are the Adult Asperger Assessment and AQ-10 within an adult clinical population of all intellectual abilities?

Kenny

Stansfield

2016

Advances in Autism

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Purpose-The Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA) was designed to be a screening tool to identify adults with Asperger syndrome and/or high-functioning autism. The AAA includes three questionnaires; the Autism Quotient (AQ), the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and the Relatives Questionnaire (RQ). The Autism Quotient-10 (AQ-10) was designed to be a "red flag" for healthcare professionals considering referral for ASD assessment. The purpose of this paper is to determine the usefulness of the AAA and AQ-10 as part of an adult autism diagnostic pathway that includes patients of all intellectual ability. Design/methodology/approach-Results were obtained for all patients who had received a clinical decision at Leeds Autism Diagnostic Service, which is a service that assesses patients of all intellectual ability, during 2015, n¼214. Of these 132 were included in the analysis, 77 patients were excluded for not completing the AAA and four were excluded for not receiving a clinical decision. Findings-Results suggest that patients diagnosed with ASD without intellectual disabilities score on average 35 on the AQ, 17 on the EQ and 20 on the RQ. Those not diagnosed with ASD score on average 33 on the AQ, 22 on the EQ and 15 on the RQ. Patients with intellectual disabilities, scores are lower on the AQ, and higher on the EQ and RQ than those without intellectual disabilities. These results are the same regardless of diagnosis of ASD. The RQ is the only questionnaire to result in a significant difference between those diagnosed and not diagnosed. Results suggest that the AQ-10 is not useful in this clinical population. Research limitations/implications-This study was undertaken as part of a service development improvement process. The specific demographics of this clinical population may have influenced the findings. The process will need to be repeated to ensure that the results are consistent across time and increased sample size. The population of patients with an intellectual disability is small, further studies into the use of the AAA or the design of other intellectual disability specific screening tools should be pursued. It is of note that the AAA was never intended for use within an intellectual disability population. Originality/value-This is an original paper as it will be the first to consider the usefulness of each of the aspects of the AAA collectively. It will be the first to assess: the AQ-10 alongside the AAA, the usefulness of the AAA regardless of intellectual ability and the usefulness of the AAA within a clinical population by using the diagnostic outcome as the benchmark of the usefulness of the AAA scores. This paper will only be discussing the scores generated by the AAA, and the correlation of these scores with a diagnosis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How useful are the Adult Asperger Assessment and AQ-10 within an adult clinical population of all intellectual abilities?

Kenny

Stansfield

2016

Advances in Autism

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“…This has resulted in, or coincided with, the development of specialist ASD services (e.g. Davidson et al 2015), yet obtaining health authority funding for these can prove hugely difficult and there are long waiting lists for assessment and treatment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Optimise Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): A Delphi Study

Spain

Happé

2019

J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther

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Are we good and are we safe? Measuring quality and assessing risk in an adult autism diagnostic service

Stansfield

Kam

Baddams

et al. 2017

AIA

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Purpose -Leeds autism diagnostic service is an adult autism diagnostic service for people of any intellectual ability which also offers consultancy to service users/carers or professionals, as well as a wide range of autism training. The service was set up as a pilot in 2011 and a paper describing the service development was published in this journal in November 2015. The purpose of this paper is to describe the approach taken to measure the quality of the service the authors provide and accurately assess risk in adults with autism.Design/methodology/approach -The process of evaluating appropriate outcome measures is described, along with considering appropriate risk assessment tools for use in the community. Over 200 people each year complete the autism diagnostic pathway, and 164 patients were invited to respond to service evaluation questionnaires in 2014.Findings -To date, the most useful outcome measures for this group include a prospective service user questionnaire which enables service user opinion to influence service development. In the absence of any appropriate autism-specific risk assessment tools, the service has developed one which it is currently piloting. This has proved particularly useful in the consultancy setting Originality/value -This paper is a follow-up paper looking at the day-to-day issues that the team have had to grapple withhow do you assess whether what you are doing is providing the best possible service for the people that you serve and how do you accurately assess risk in this population?

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No exclusions – developing an autism diagnostic service for adults irrespective of intellectual ability

Cited by 6 publications

References 19 publications

How useful are the Adult Asperger Assessment and AQ-10 within an adult clinical population of all intellectual abilities?

How useful are the Adult Asperger Assessment and AQ-10 within an adult clinical population of all intellectual abilities?

How to Optimise Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): A Delphi Study

Are we good and are we safe? Measuring quality and assessing risk in an adult autism diagnostic service

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