Ethiopian community health workers’ beliefs and attitudes towards children with autism: Impact of a brief training intervention

Tilahun, Dejene; Fekadu, Abebaw; Tekola, Bethlehem; Araya, Mesfin; Roth, Ilona; Davey, Basiro; Hanlon, Charlotte; Hoekstra, Rosa A.

doi:10.1177/1362361317730298

Cited by 39 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Some studies suggest increased knowledge about ASD is associated with reduced stigmatising beliefs and attitudes (Milačić-Vidojević, Gligorović, & Dragojević, 2014;Obeid et al, 2015), and that autism training may improve knowledge and decrease stigmatising attitudes (Obeid et al, 2015;Tilahun et al, 2017). Similarly, parents of children with ASD found it easier to resist felt stigma when equipped with sufficient medical knowledge (Farrugia, 2009).…”

Section: Literacy In Mental Health and Typical Child Developmental Trmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study that evaluated the impact of a training on mental health and developmental disorders for Ethiopian community health workers reported decreased negative beliefs and stigmatising attitudes among trained health workers, but also a decrease in positive expectations of what children with autism can achieve (Tilahun et al, 2017).…”

Section: Literacy In Mental Health and Typical Child Developmental Trmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Cultural and Contextual Factors on Autism Across the Globe

2020

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Autism research is heavily skewed towards western high-income countries. Culturally appropriate screening and diagnostic instruments for autism are lacking in most low-and middle-income settings where the majority of the global autism population lives. To date, a clear overview of the possible cultural and contextual factors that may affect the process of identifying and diagnosing individuals with ASD is missing. This study aims to outline these factors by proposing a conceptual framework. A multidisciplinary review approach was applied to inform the development of the conceptual framework, combining a systematic review of the relevant autism research literature with a wider literature search spanning key texts in global mental health, cultural psychiatry, cross-cultural psychology and intellectual disability research. The resulting conceptual framework considers the identification, helpseeking and diagnostic process at four interrelated levels: i) the expression, ii) recognition, iii) interpretation and iv) reporting of autism symptoms, and describes the cultural and contextual factors associated with each of these levels, including cultural norms of typical and atypical behaviour, culture-specific approaches to parenting, mental health literacy, cultural beliefs, attitudes and stigma, as well as the affordability, availability, accessibility and acceptability of services. This framework, mapping out the cultural and contextual factors that can affect the identification, help-seeking and diagnosis of ASD, may function as a springboard for the development of culturally appropriate autism screening and diagnostic instruments, and inform future cross-cultural autism research directions. The framework also has relevance for clinicians and policy makers aiming to improve support for underserved autism populations worldwide. Lay summaryThe vast majority of autism research is conducted in western high-income settings. We therefore know relatively little of how culture and context can affect the identification, helpseeking and diagnosis of autism across the globe. This paper synthesises what is known from the autism research literature and a broader literature and maps out how culture and context may affect i) the expression, ii) recognition, iii) interpretation and iv) reporting of autism symptoms.

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Section: Literacy In Mental Health and Typical Child Developmental Trmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literacy In Mental Health and Typical Child Developmental Trmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Cultural and Contextual Factors on Autism Across the Globe

2020

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“…Although social distance scales have commonly been used in prior research examining stigma towards autism (e.g., Tilahun et al, 2017) and other mental health conditions (e.g., Griffiths et al, 2006) in diverse cultures, is possible that differences between the current findings and the findings documented by other researchers (e.g., Papadopoulos et al, 2013) might be attributable to their use of a different, and more comprehensive measure, the Community Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill Scale (CAMI; Taylor & Dear, 1981). Although social distance scores and CAMI scores have been correlated in prior research with autism and ways in which stigma may be expressed and experienced differently in different cultures, depending on the cultural values that are most salient to a particular group (see Abdullah & Brown, 2011).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus far, such research has focused primarily on college students in Westernized nations. However, the degree to which autism is stigmatized is believed to vary greatly across cultural contexts (e.g., Grinker et al, 2012;Tekola et al, 2016;Tilahun et al, 2017). Indeed, Goffman (1963) highlighted the relational and contextually situated nature of stigma by indicating that stigma does not reside in an attribute itself, but arises when others interpret the attribute as an "undesired difference from what we ["the normals"] had anticipated."…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors underlying cross-cultural differences in stigma toward autism among college students in Lebanon and the United States

Gillespie-Lynch

Daou

Sánchez‐Ruiz

et al. 2019

Autism

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Although stigma negatively impacts autistic people globally, the degree of stigma varies across cultures. Prior research suggests that stigma may be higher in cultures with more collectivistic orientations. This study aimed to identify cultural values and other individual differences that contribute to cross-cultural differences in autism stigma (assessed with a social distance scale) between college students in Lebanon ( n = 556) and those in the United States ( n = 520). Replicating prior work, stigma was lower in women than men and in the United States relative to Lebanon. Heightened autism knowledge, quality of contact with autistic people, openness to experience, and reduced acceptance of inequality predicted lower stigma. Collectivism was not associated with heightened stigma. Findings highlight the need to address structural inequalities, combat harmful misconceptions, and foster positive contact to combat stigma.

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“…Develop and evaluate culturally appropriate training interventions to improve knowledge and awareness related to autism in teachers and/or health workers. Existing examples include Grinker et al (2015) and Tilahun et al (2017) (Grinker et al, 2015;Tilahun et al, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A conceptual framework for understanding the cultural and contextual factors on autism across the globe

Leeuw¹,

Happé²,

Hoekstra³

2019

Preprint

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Autism research is heavily skewed towards western high-income countries. Culturally appropriate screening and diagnostic instruments for autism are lacking in most low- and middle-income settings where the majority of the global autism population lives. To date, a clear overview of the possible cultural and contextual factors that may affect the process of identifying and diagnosing individuals with ASD is missing. This study aims to outline these factors by proposing a conceptual framework. A multidisciplinary review approach was applied to inform the development of the conceptual framework, combining a systematic review of the relevant autism research literature with a wider literature search spanning key texts in global mental health, cultural psychiatry, cross-cultural psychology and intellectual disability research. The resulting conceptual framework considers the identification, help-seeking and diagnostic process at four interrelated levels: i) the expression, ii) recognition, iii) interpretation and iv) reporting of autism symptoms, and describes the cultural and contextual factors associated with each of these levels, including cultural norms of typical and atypical behaviour, culture-specific approaches to parenting, mental health literacy, cultural beliefs, attitudes and stigma, as well as the affordability, availability, accessibility and acceptability of services. This framework, mapping out the cultural and contextual factors that can affect the identification, help-seeking and diagnosis of ASD, may function as a springboard for the development of culturally appropriate autism screening and diagnostic instruments, and inform future cross-cultural autism research directions. The framework also has relevance for clinicians and policy makers aiming to improve support for underserved autism populations worldwide.

show abstract

Ethiopian community health workers’ beliefs and attitudes towards children with autism: Impact of a brief training intervention

Cited by 39 publications

References 32 publications

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Cultural and Contextual Factors on Autism Across the Globe

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Cultural and Contextual Factors on Autism Across the Globe

Factors underlying cross-cultural differences in stigma toward autism among college students in Lebanon and the United States

A conceptual framework for understanding the cultural and contextual factors on autism across the globe

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