Changing College Students’ Conceptions of Autism: An Online Training to Increase Knowledge and Decrease Stigma

Abstract

College students with autism may be negatively impacted by lack of understanding about autism on college campuses. Thus, we developed an online training to improve knowledge and decrease stigma associated with autism among college students. Participants (N = 365) completed a pre-test, online training, and post-test. Women reported lower stigma towards autism than men. Participation in the training was associated with decreased stigma and increased knowledge about autism. Although participants exhibited relatively high baseline knowledge of autism, misconceptions were common, particularly in open-ended responses. Participants commonly confused autism with other disorders, such as learning disabilities. This study suggests that online training may be a cost-effective way to increase college students' understanding and acceptance of their peers with autism.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Knowledge and Stigma Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder Among College Students in Lebanon and the United States

“…Although the current study may be the first to compare knowledge and stigma associated with ASD across countries, incomplete and/or inaccurate knowledge about ASD has been documented among many types of people internationally, including college students in Great Britain (Shah 2001), Nigeria (Igwe et al 2010), and the US (Tipton and Blacher 2014). Commonly reported misconceptions include underestimating the prevalence of ASD (Dillenburger et al 2013), lack of knowledge about core diagnostic characteristics (Bakare et al 2009;Gillespie-Lynch et al 2015;Heidgerken et al 2005;Helps et al 1999;Kharti et al 2011), misconceptions about etiology (Alqahtani 2012), and insufficient knowledge about how to support those on the spectrum (Chown 2010;Imran et al 2011). Researchers have often found that women and those who have had more contact with people with ASD are more knowledgeable about autism (Dillenburger et al 2013;Koyama et al 2008;Wang et al 2012).…”

“…To address this need, Gillespie-Lynch et al (2015) used a pre-test post-test design to evaluate an online ASD training. Mirroring Tipton and Blacher's (2014) findings, 365 US college students indicated more correct than incorrect answers on the Autism Awareness Survey at pre-test.…”

“…Hypotheses for aim 1 We expected women and nuclear family members of people with ASD to exhibit more knowledge about, and lesser stigma towards, ASD in both countries (e.g., Campbell and Barger 2014;Chambres et al 2008;Dillenburger et al 2013;Gillespie-Lynch et al 2015;Koyama et al 2008;Tipton and Blacher 2014;Wang et al 2012). Due to mixed findings in the literature (e.g., Gardiner and Iarocci (2014); Matthews et al 2014;Nevill and White 2011), we had no hypotheses about potential associations between autistic traits and conceptions of ASD.…”

“…were coded into non-mutually exclusive categories by noting whether participants accurately identified symptoms associated with the DSM-5 criteria for ASD (American Psychiatric Association APA 2013); additional response categories were adapted from previously developed coding schemes (e.g. Campbell et al 2011;Gillespie-Lynch et al 2015). Appendix B provides the coding scheme with examples.…”

“…To examine knowledge associated with ASD, we adapted the Autism Awareness Survey (Heidgerken et al 2005;Stone 1987) with 10 items from the original scale and three new items (Gillespie-Lynch et al 2015, see Appendix C). Items were scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from -2 to ?2, with higher scores indicating more knowledge.…”