Elsevier

Public Health

Volume 138, September 2016, Pages 154-156
Public Health

Short Communication
Non-life threatening disorders (NLTDs): attitudes toward Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) among students of allied health professions

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.03.010Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Health care professionals may determine access to health care of people with ASDs.

  • Negative attitude of HCP may expose people with ASDs to health inequalities.

  • Two thirds of the students would not continue a pregnancy with a diagnosis of autism.

  • Education and secularity predicted a positive attitude toward genetic testing for ASDs.

Introduction

The prevalence of Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) has increased dramatically. The last report (2014) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that the prevalence of autism is one in 64.1 The knowledge of medical students' attitudes and the allied health professions toward people with social and intellectual disabilities deserves empirical attention because in the future, they might be in a position to determine these people's access to health care and exposure to health inequalities.2, 3 In this report we describe a pilot study of attitudes toward prenatal diagnosis (PND) to avoid ASDs, among students of allied health professions.4

Previous and recent studies have shown that the attitude of the population in Israel, both in the medical profession, and in the general public, is largely in favour of genetic tools.5, 6 Prenatal diagnosis (PND) to prevent autism is not available; yet a huge effort is being made to add ASDs to the ever-expanding list of PNDs.7 In the United States, for example, most parents of a child with autism would wish to pursue genetic testing if a test were available that could identify risk of ASD in a younger sibling.8 In Israel, parents of an autistic child would pursue genetic testing for ASD, even if a reliable test for autism is not yet available—excluding fragile X—to avoid having another child with ASDs (personal communication).

Section snippets

ASDs

ASDs are described as a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioural challenges. ASDs typically appear during the first three years of life. People with ASD share some similar symptoms, such as problems with social interaction, but there are differences in when the symptoms appear, how severe they are, and their exact nature. ASDs include a continuum line that extends from “classic” autism, which is characterized by significant language

Methods

This study included 305 college students, of nursing and health systems management at a college in the north of Israel. One obvious limitation of this sampling method is that it might affect its representative nature. However, although not representative of the Israeli population (there were fewer men and more Arabs) the sample in this study did include different sections of the Israeli population. Just more than a half of the participants were Jews and the rest were Arabs. Although most of the

Attitudes toward genetic tools to prevent NLTDs

In this study, the majority of the students responded positively toward the use of genetic tools to prevent NLTDs. The large majority of the respondents were positive about the idea that genetic counselling is important to reduce deleterious genes in the population and about the idea that parents should be allowed to select healthy embryos. In addition, most of the respondents in this survey thought that it would be unfair to the child to be born with a chronic disease or disability.

Spearman

Discussion

This study, although limited in scope, offers a glimpse into the attitudes toward ASDs among future professionals in health care settings. Since the sampled group in this study were first year students, and therefore not yet health professionals, their general norms and views, including perceptions of ASDs, might still be in line with those of the general public. The general positive attitude of the students in this study toward genetic tools to avoid autism, including AS, might be indicative

Ethical approval

Not required (No extra-interventions. The questionnaires in this study were included in the students' curricula, for discussion in the class).

Funding

None.

Competing interests

None declared.

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