Recognition of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptoms and knowledge about some other aspects of ASD among final year medical students in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Background Earlier studies suggest that knowledge about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) among healthcare workers in Nigeria is low. This present study assessed the knowledge of Nigerian final year medical students about symptoms of ASD and some other aspects of ASD. This is a cross sectional descriptive study that drew a total of seven hundred and fifty-seven (757) final year medical students from ten (10) randomly selected fully accredited medical schools out of a total of twenty-seven (27) fully accredited medical schools in Nigeria. Sociodemographic and Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers (KCAHW) questionnaires were used to assess knowledge of final year medical students about ASD and obtain demographic information.ResultsOnly few, 218 (28.8 %) of the 757 final year medical students had seen and participated in evaluation and management of at least a child with ASD during their clinical postings in pediatrics and psychiatry. Knowledge and recognition of symptoms of ASD is observed to be better among this group of final year medical students as shown by higher mean scores in the four domains of KCAHW questionnaire. Knowledge about ASD varies across gender and regions. Misconceptions about ASD were also observed among the final year medical students.ConclusionsMore focus needs to be given to ASD in the curriculum of Nigerian undergraduate medical students, especially during their psychiatry and pediatric clinical postings.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1433-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the knowledge about childhood autism among health workers questionnaire

“…In our study, the mean score for Domain 1 was determined as 7.07; for Domain 2, 0.89; for Domain 3, 2.69; and for Domain 4, 3.16. In other studies, the average score for Domain 1 ranged between 5.24 and 6.71; for Domain 2, between 0.63 and 0.94; for Domain 3, between 1.1 and 2.62; and for Domain 4, between 1.3 and 3.53 [12][13][14][29][30][31]. According to these results, we conclude that the score obtained from Domains 1 and 3 increased the total mean score in our study.…”

“…They have determined that mean scores received by psychiatry and paediatric nurses from the questionnaire were close to each other and high [12]. It was determined that senior year medicine students who have attended to the evaluation process of patients with ASD have received higher scores in KCAHW questionnaire Domains 1, 2, 3, and 4 compared to students who have not attended this process, and that there was a statistically significant difference between the groups for each domain [31].…”

Autism spectrum disorder in sub‐saharan africa: A comprehensive scoping review

“…Two studies found those with previous experience working with children with ASD had greater ASD knowledge relative to the group [Bakare, Ebigbo, et al, 2009]. Similar observations were made with medical professionals and health and life sciences students [Bakare et al, ; Eseigbe et al, ; Igwe, Bakare, Agomoh, Onyeama, & Okonkwo, ].…”

A Systematic Review of Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…For instance, most of the healthcare workers in Enugu, Nigeria, had limited knowledge of ASD and perceived the quality of healthcare provided to families of children with ASD as suboptimal [50, 51]. Most of the studies on awareness were carried out in Nigeria by Bakare and colleagues [33, 48, 50, 51]. One South African study observed that there were relatively few barriers to participating in ASD research and suggested that most of these barriers were poverty-related [42].…”