Undergraduate allied healthcare professional students’ perceived knowledge of children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

PURPOSE : Allied healthcare professionals are key stakeholders involved in managing children with autism spectrum disorder. Adequate knowledge, interprofessional education, and collaborative practice should therefore be fostered through a responsive curriculum from an undergraduate level. This study aimed to describe the knowledge of final-year undergraduate allied healthcare professional students from a South African university regarding risk factors, symptoms, and intervention considerations for children with autism spectrum disorder. METHOD : A cross-sectional e-survey design was implemented, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The e-survey was distributed to 170 undergraduate students. RESULTS : A total of 59 participants from the following study programs completed the survey: Audiology (n=10), Human Nutrition (n=6), Occupational Therapy (n=5), Physiotherapy (n=10) and Speech-Language Pathology (n=28). Overall, participants perceived their knowledge of autism spectrum disorder to be poor-to-average (71%; N=42). Participants identified the disorder’s symptoms (69%; N=41) more accurately compared to risk factors (51%; N=30). Discrepancies across study programs were apparent regarding when to initiate intervention. Participants showed substandard understanding of evidence-based intervention approaches (47%; N=28). Across study programs, participants were unaware of the roles other allied healthcare professionals played in service provision areas. CONCLUSIONS : This study identified multiple gaps in the students’ knowledge across all study programs regarding risk factors and symptoms, screening, accurate multidisciplinary, referrals as well as timely intervention. RECOMMENDATIONS : Future undergraduate curricula should therefore focus on disorder-specific and in-depth knowledge, while including interprofessional and collaborative service provision as autism spectrum disorder requires multidisciplinary management.