Awareness of medical students about autism spectrum disorders

Background. The level of awareness of future doctors is an important factor that can further affect the quality of life of children with autism spectrum disorders. The problem has both scientific significance due to the lack of such studies in domestic science, and practical significance for identifying problem areas in the system of pediatric education.

Aim. To identify the level of awareness of pediatric faculties’ students about autism spectrum disorders, methods for their diagnosis and treatment, technologies for non-medical intervention.

Material and methods. A questionnaire, aimed at identifying the awareness of medical students about autism, methods of its diagnosis, patient routing and self-assessment of knowledge, was developed. The questionnaire included 29 questions, which could be conditionally divided into blocks: questions on knowledge about autism, action scenarios and routing, self-assessment of awareness of autism spectrum disorders, assessment of environmental components for children with such disorders, passport. Data collection was carried out using Google forms. The survey involved 408 students of pediatric faculties of 7 Russian medical universities of Kazan, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Kirov. The survey was conducted in December 2020. The type of research can be defined as a questionnaire survey, which was carried out in two stages (field and analytical) from December 2020 to March 2021. The survey was conducted among 1–4th year (144 people), 5th year (116 people) and 6th year students (125 people). The selection of subgroups was due to the specifics of the educational process: until the second semester of the 4th year, pediatric students do not study disciplines related to the problem of autism spectrum disorders, 5th year students study neurology and psychiatry, 6th year students additionally have experience in outpatient practice. The obtained data were processed using the SPSS package.

Results. Officially accepted in Russia at the time of the survey, the medical interpretation of autism spectrum disorders as a group of complex disintegrative disorders of mental development was indicated by only a third (32.8%) of the medical students surveyed. Another part of the respondents (28.7%) considered autism to be a genetic disorder in the development of the nervous system due to the lack of inhibition of certain genes. The high proportion of students (21.1%) who define autism as mental retardation associated with socio-pedagogical neglect, causes concern. Senior students were more likely to give more relevant answers about the factors of autism spectrum disorders (χ2=22.318 at p=0.034). Only 14.2% of students were able to indicate the age of the child for screening the risk of such disorders, 19.1% correctly named the scale used for screening. 71.3% of students did not know about non-medical interventions for autism spectrum disorders, more than 90% did not have information about institutions that families with a child with autism can apply for professional help.

Conclusion. Insufficient awareness of students of pediatric faculties on the problems of autism spectrum disorders, issues of screening, interventions and routing of children with autism was revealed.