Running head: KNOWLEDGE OF AUTISM

Correlational Analysis of Undergraduate Social Science Majors and Knowledge of Autism Megan Campbell, Trisha Crone, Jessica Pierson, Chrys Quiroz, Gayle Young Touro University Nevada

KNOWLEDGE OF AUTISM Abstract This study employs the Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers (KCAHW) to examine the relationship between undergraduate academic major and knowledge

of autism. Autism is referred to as a spectrum because of the wide range of symptoms, skills and levels of impairment that can be associated with the diagnosis (NIMH, 2012). According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), autism is categorized as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder. For health care professionals, it is imperative to understand details of the disorder in order to affectively treat clients who have been diagnosed with autism. Knowledge, as operationally defined in this study, refers to familiarity and understanding of autism. Specifically, having higher knowledge will aid in overall performance and confidence of health care workers such as Occupational Therapists in treating individuals with this diagnosis. Findings suggest that individuals within the undergraduate majors of social science have a greater understanding and knowledge of autism. However the Independent Samples T-Test suggests that the results are not significant. Educational implications for training health care workers and directions for future research are discussed.

KNOWLEDGE OF AUTISM Literature Review

In a study conducted by Lobst, Nabors, Rosenzweig, Srivorakiat, Champlin, Campbell & Segall (2008), it was found that participants who were given information (explanatory information and/ or neuropsychological information) about autism before watching a video of a child demonstrating autism symptoms had more positive perceptions of the disorder than those who were given no explanation of symptoms. This is consistent with our hypothesis which states that individuals who have prior knowledge of autism through their undergraduate education in social science fields will have a more positive perception of the disorder than those individuals who did not major in a social science field. Lobst et al. (2008) further found that women had higher acceptance ratings of individuals with autism than men. This is similar to a study conducted by Werner, (2011), which found that female college students from various professional fields held both positive and negative attitudes about working with consumers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) after graduation. 42 female students in the fields of social work, education, nursing, occupational therapy, and language therapy were given an open ended questionnaire called the Theory of Planned Behavior (TBI) to attain results. Werner (2011) found that some students identified stigmatizing beliefs about this population due to lack of knowledge or previous exposure. Werner (2011) believed that the stigmatizing beliefs were a cause for concern since these negative views may keep students from working with this growing population. In order to increase their understanding and knowledge base, Werner (2011) proposed that students needed to have greater access to university courses related to aspects of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Further research could focus on duplicating the Lobst et al. (2008) study on womens higher tolerance than mens to investigate the reasons that one gender has a higher tolerance than

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the other for individuals who have autism. Lobst et al. (2008) hypothesized that individuals who were given a combined explanation about the disorder, (explanatory information and neuropsychological information) would have an even higher acceptance of children with autism than participants who were given just explanatory information or neuropsychological information or no information at all. According to Lobst et al. (2008) this hypothesis was not supported. In the study conducted by Werner (2011) the students interviewed were asked to identify the number of courses taken related to disabilities. There was a variance in answers from zero to eight but all social work students reported zero. The social work students were also found to have the most negative attitudes about working with clients with ASD. One proposed strategy for overcoming negative attitudes associated with the ASD population was improved contact through increased field work opportunities. Limited experience or negative experience with certain individuals with ASD was seen as a factor that deterred students from wanting to work with these consumers. Since there is currently no cure for ASD and the population afflicted with ASD continues to grow it is logical to expect that people working in the allied health fields will have contact with this population. Werner and Grayzman (2011) stressed that in order to provide quality care to individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) such as autism, providers needed to be willing to work with this population no matter their professional background. This research study also used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) questionnaire to measure results. The main focus of this study was to find predictors for students intentions to work with individuals with ID after completion of their undergraduate studies. The hypothesis predicted that students who had a greater knowledge and prior acquaintance with individuals with ID would be more willing to work with this population

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after completing school. It was found that both nursing and social work students had the lowest scores among several other professions such as occupational therapy and speech and language therapists. Social workers scored the highest on their attitude to work with this population, yet the lowest on their intent to work with this population after completing school. Students who thought working with individuals with ID was beneficial, crucial, challenging, and rewarding scored higher on their intent to work with this population. Werner and Grayzmen (2011) suggested that having little to no knowledge about individuals with ID correlated directly with low confidence, and less intent to work with this population. Also according to Werner and Grayzmen (2011), having both knowledge and prior acquaintances reduced negative stigma towards individuals with ID. Our study looks at the extent of knowledge about autism held by people with various undergraduate degrees. Based on the findings from several of the studies in this literature review, it is important to have knowledge about individuals with ID including autism in order to promote confidence and quality care in the health care fields. Several of the studies in this literature review have looked at backgrounds such as social work and nursing. For our study we will be comparing students with various bachelor degrees. Specifically our hypothesis states that individuals with bachelors degrees in social sciences fields will have more tolerance and understanding of individuals with autism than those with bachelors degrees in other areas.
The data found in the study conducted Werner (2011) seems to contradict our hypothesis because there was no correlation between students level of experience or understanding of autism and their perceptions of individuals with the disorder. To further understand implications within understanding of autism and perception of the disorder, we looked at a study conducted by Igwe, Bakare, Agomoh, Onyeama, and Okonkwo (2010) where three hundred undergraduate students from Nigeria were surveyed using a questionnaire about their knowledge of autism. Medical, nursing and psychology students were

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studied, and it was found that medical students had greater knowledge of autism than nursing and psychology students respectively. Another study conducted by Shah (2001) revealed that a wealth of

knowledge on autism may not be present within students attending medical schools, despite whether the student is a 1st year or a 4th year. Citable improvements were shown depending on years in medical school (1st year vs. 4th years) in areas of knowledge regarding diagnostic criteria and symptoms according to Shah (2001). However, there were no improvements when the 1st year and 4th years were compared regarding the knowledge of the treatment or causes of autism (Shah, 2001). This may be indicative that though students who are approaching the end of their program may be able to diagnose autism, they do not have the proper knowledge to be able to treat or explain/ answer any questions about the causes of autism. Another cause of concern is that with the 4th year medical students lack of knowledge regarding autism, they may never be able to grasp the potential to understand the wide spectrum of knowledge regarding the disorder. According to Shah (2001), this is due to the general recognition that knowledge pertaining to a certain subject will decrease as time progresses, unless the individual chooses to specialize in that field. Igwe et al. (2010) had similar findings as our proposed hypothesis because it strove to examine the knowledge of autism awareness among students. Igwe et al. (2010) found that there was a positive correlation among the number of credit hours a student spent in abnormal psychology course and his or her score on the questionnaire. The results show the importance of spreading autism awareness among the medical profession. Many of the professionals who will be working with clients who have autism must have baseline knowledge of the disorder to properly care for and treat the clients. This study relates to our proposed topic because we are comparing the knowledge of occupational therapy students on autism coming into graduate school, depending on their area of focus in their undergraduate degree. The field of occupational

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therapy comes with the likelihood of treating an individual with autism and providing a wide scope of information about the disorder. Occupational therapy falls under the umbrella of healthcare providers and if this study applies to our area of practice, then we should be working towards improving our familiarization with autism. This study shows that medical students have insufficient knowledge on autism and this should be a cause for considerable concern in the healthcare field. Theoretical Framework Within the context of situated learning theory, the Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers (KCAHW) illustrates a theoretical framework that posits knowledge needs to be acquired in an authentic learning environment. The frame work also emphasizes that collaboration and social interaction are vital components of learning. Therefore to learn efficiently greater emphasis needs to be placed on the interaction between the classroom learning and outside learning opportunities. In essence, knowledge about autism can be obtained through exposure to individuals with autism in a healthcare setting, as well as related coursework in accordance with situated learning theory. Purpose of Proposed Study The purpose of this study is to explore whether individuals who have an undergraduate degree in a social science field will have more knowledge regarding individuals with autism. This study is needed because individuals who are pursuing a career in Occupational Therapy will most likely have to treat an individual with autism. We chose to differentiate individuals based on those who pursued a degree in a social science field and those who pursued a degree in another field. Social science is defined as the study of society and social behavior (Social science, 2012). These include degrees such as Psychology and Sociology which often require

KNOWLEDGE OF AUTISM students to take classes focused on developmental disorders. With the previous studies showing that there is a lack of knowledge regarding autism within the healthcare profession, it raises a concern and we find it necessary to see if there is a relationship between an individuals undergraduate degree and their knowledge coming into a Masters of Occupational Therapy program. Our hypothesis states that individuals who have prior knowledge of autism through their undergraduate education in social science fields will have more knowledge of the disorder than those individuals who did not major in a social science field. Methods Participants and Sample

There were a total of 27 participants in the study. Of the 27 participants, 6 were male. One of the subjects was removed from the sample due to lack of information. From the sample, 17 (65.3%) reported having an undergraduate degree in a social science. The remaining 9 (34.6%) had undergraduate degrees in a subject other than social science. The age ranges of the participants were 22-40. All of the participants are in their first year of the Occupational Therapy Program at Touro University Nevada. The sample from which the data was collected was a convenience sample. Materials/ Instruments The instrument used to collect the data was the Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers (KCAHW) Questionnaire. The questionnaire contains nineteen questions which addressed different domains of the disorder. Demographics were also collected from the participants. The demographics which were collected consisted of gender, age, and undergraduate degree.

KNOWLEDGE OF AUTISM Procedure The demographics and the KCAHW questionnaire were administered to the students through Qualtrics Online Survey Software. The subjects were a convenience sample. All of the participants are the first year students from the Occupational Therapy Program at Touro University Nevada. The survey was emailed to the participants school email addresses. The emails were collected using Blackboard. After the participants completed the survey, the data was transferred into an excel spreadsheet. From there, the information was imported into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for data analysis. Data Analysis The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21.

Data analyzed using an independent samples T-test. An independent samples T-test measures the variance between groups. Results Results of the T-Test in SPSS indicate no statistical significance in the data collected for this study. N value of 9 (M= 2.7778, SD = 2.90593) for non-social science majors and 17 (M = 3.2353, SD= 3.09292) social science majors in the study. F = .092, p >.05 assumption of error variance was met. The results indicate that although there was a correlation between social science majors and knowledge of autism the results were not significant, p=.72 Discussion The results for this study were not statistically significant; however the results did show that individuals who graduated with a social science undergraduate degree had higher scores than individuals who graduated with other types of degrees. A higher score means that they answered

KNOWLEDGE OF AUTISM more questions correctly. A higher score indicates that the individuals who majored in social

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science had more prior knowledge about autism disorder than those who majored in other areas. This study is indicative of past research which shows that undergraduates with a social science degree are more willing to work with individuals who have autism. There are several limitations to this study which include the small sample group that took the survey. A larger sample is needed to create a statistical significance. Another limitation is the sample groups were picked through convenient sampling which is not a random sampling type; therefore control for third variables was poor. A significant limitation was the complexity of the survey. A couple participants who were not included in the study began the survey, but did not complete it. Do to the complexity of the questions, some participants became fatigued quickly, or did not put full effort into answering the questions truthfully. A couple of participants opened the survey and did not fill it out, possibly due to intimidation or fear of judgment for not answering the questions correctly. The survey did not ask the subjects about personal experiences, such as if they know someone who has autism, or have any prior experience working with individuals with autism. Previous or additional knowledge may influence how a person answers the survey regardless of what undergraduate degree they achieve. Further research could focus on duplicating the Lobst et al. (2008) study on womens higher tolerance than mens to investigate the reasons that one gender has a higher tolerance than the other for individuals who have autism. Further research could also explore how the population in the western states perceives individuals with autism. Past studies have proven that there is a lack of research with social perception of autism. This study has opened up new possibilities in exploration of how people can change their perception of developmental disorders and diseases through knowledge acquired in undergraduate degree.

KNOWLEDGE OF AUTISM References Anderson, J. R., Reder, L. M., & Simon, H. A. (1996). Situated learning and education. Educational Research 25(5). DOI: 10.3102/0013189X025004005 Igwe, M., Bakare, M.,Agomoh, A., Onyeama, G., Okonkwo, K. (2010). Factors influencing knowledgeabout childhood autism among final year undergraduate medical, nursing,

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andpsychology students of University of Nigeria, Enugu State, Nigeria. Italian Journal of Pediatrics. 36-44. doi: 10.1186/1824-7288-36-44 Lobst, E., Nabors, L., Rosenzweig, K., Srivorakiat, L., Champlin, R., Campbell, J., & Segall, M. (2009). Adults perceptions of a child with Autism. Research In Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3(2), 401-408. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2008.08.006 National Institute of Mental Health (2012). Autism Spectrum Disorders (pervasive developmental disorders). Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autismspectrum-disorders-pervasive-developmental-disorders/index.shtml Shah, K. (2001). What do medical students know about autism. Autism, 5(2), 127-133. doi: 10.1177/1362361301005002003 Social science. (2012). Dictionary.com. Lexico Publishing Group. Retrieved October 16, 2012, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social+science?s=t Werner, S. (2011). Assessing female students attitudes in various health and social professions toward working with people with autism: A preliminary study. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 25, 131-137 doi: 10.3109/13561820.2010.515043

KNOWLEDGE OF AUTISM Werner, S. & Grayzman, A. (2011). Factors influencing the intention of students to work with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities 32(1), 2502-2510. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.07.010

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