Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

“I wouldn’t know where to start”: Perspectives from clinicians, agency leaders, and autistic adults on improving community mental ...

“I wouldn’t know where to start”: Perspectives from clinicians, agency leaders, and autistic... Most autistic adults struggle with mental health problems, and traditional mentalhealth services generally do not meet their needs. This study used qualitativemethods to identify ways to improve community mental health services forautistic adults for treatment of their co-occurring psychiatric conditions. Weconducted semistructured, open-ended interviews with 22 autistic adults withmental healthcare experience, 44 community mental health clinicians, and 11community mental health agency leaders in the United States. The participantsidentified clinician-, client-, and systems-level barriers and facilitators toproviding quality mental healthcare to autistic adults. Across all threestakeholder groups, most of the reported barriers involved clinicians’ limitedknowledge, lack of experience, poor competence, and low confidence working withautistic adults. All three groups also discussed the disconnect between thecommunity mental health and developmental disabilities systems, which can resultin autistic adults being turned away from services when they contact the mentalhealth division and disclose their autism diagnosis during the intake process.Further efforts are needed to train clinicians to work more effectively withautistic adults and to increase coordination between the mental health anddevelopmental disabilities systems.Lay AbstractMost autistic adults struggle with mental health problems, such as anxietyand depression. However, they often have trouble finding effective mentalhealth treatment in their community. The goal of this study was to identifyways to improve community mental health services for autistic adults. Weinterviewed 22 autistic adults with mental healthcare experience, 44community mental health clinicians (outpatient therapists, case managers,and intake coordinators), and 11 community mental health agency leaders inthe United States. Our participants identified a variety of barriers toproviding quality mental healthcare to autistic adults. Across all threegroups, most of the reported barriers involved clinicians’ limitedknowledge, lack of experience, poor competence, and low confidence workingwith autistic adults. All three groups also discussed the disconnect betweenthe community mental health and developmental disabilities systems and theneed to improve communication between these two systems. Further efforts areneeded to train clinicians and provide follow-up consultation to work moreeffectively with autistic adults. A common suggestion from all three groupswas to include autistic adults in creating and delivering the cliniciantraining. The autistic participants provided concrete recommendations forclinicians, such as consider sensory issues, slow the pace, incorporatespecial interests, use direct language, and set clear expectations. Ourfindings also highlight a need for community education about co-occurringpsychiatric conditions with autism and available treatments, in order toincrease awareness about treatment options. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Autism SAGE

“I wouldn’t know where to start”: Perspectives from clinicians, agency leaders, and autistic adults on improving community mental ...

Download PDF
12 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/i-wouldn-t-know-where-to-start-perspectives-from-clinicians-agency-FYINOblnjq

References (34)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019
ISSN
1362-3613
eISSN
1461-7005
DOI
10.1177/1362361319882227
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Most autistic adults struggle with mental health problems, and traditional mentalhealth services generally do not meet their needs. This study used qualitativemethods to identify ways to improve community mental health services forautistic adults for treatment of their co-occurring psychiatric conditions. Weconducted semistructured, open-ended interviews with 22 autistic adults withmental healthcare experience, 44 community mental health clinicians, and 11community mental health agency leaders in the United States. The participantsidentified clinician-, client-, and systems-level barriers and facilitators toproviding quality mental healthcare to autistic adults. Across all threestakeholder groups, most of the reported barriers involved clinicians’ limitedknowledge, lack of experience, poor competence, and low confidence working withautistic adults. All three groups also discussed the disconnect between thecommunity mental health and developmental disabilities systems, which can resultin autistic adults being turned away from services when they contact the mentalhealth division and disclose their autism diagnosis during the intake process.Further efforts are needed to train clinicians to work more effectively withautistic adults and to increase coordination between the mental health anddevelopmental disabilities systems.Lay AbstractMost autistic adults struggle with mental health problems, such as anxietyand depression. However, they often have trouble finding effective mentalhealth treatment in their community. The goal of this study was to identifyways to improve community mental health services for autistic adults. Weinterviewed 22 autistic adults with mental healthcare experience, 44community mental health clinicians (outpatient therapists, case managers,and intake coordinators), and 11 community mental health agency leaders inthe United States. Our participants identified a variety of barriers toproviding quality mental healthcare to autistic adults. Across all threegroups, most of the reported barriers involved clinicians’ limitedknowledge, lack of experience, poor competence, and low confidence workingwith autistic adults. All three groups also discussed the disconnect betweenthe community mental health and developmental disabilities systems and theneed to improve communication between these two systems. Further efforts areneeded to train clinicians and provide follow-up consultation to work moreeffectively with autistic adults. A common suggestion from all three groupswas to include autistic adults in creating and delivering the cliniciantraining. The autistic participants provided concrete recommendations forclinicians, such as consider sensory issues, slow the pace, incorporatespecial interests, use direct language, and set clear expectations. Ourfindings also highlight a need for community education about co-occurringpsychiatric conditions with autism and available treatments, in order toincrease awareness about treatment options.

Journal

Autism – SAGE

Published: May 1, 2020

There are no references for this article.