Assessing nurses' knowledge about autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) consist of a group of neurodevelopmental disorders with lifelong effects.&nbsp; Autism is rising at an alarming rate for unclear reasons.&nbsp; Increasing ASD rates create major concern for nurses in a variety of clinical surroundings and they need to be adequately prepared to interact with and provide care for these special individuals.</p> <p><strong>Method: </strong>The methodology included the use of a nonexperimental, quantitative research design using two different knowledge assessment tools, the Survey of Knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorders among Professionals along with the Knowledge about Childhood Autism Among Health Workers (KCAHW), the implementation of an evidence-based educational component and challenging behavior toolkit, concluding with the administration of the same two knowledge assessment tools given at the beginning of the project be being given as a posttest to evaluate if an increase in the knowledge of the nurses surrounding ASD occurs as a result of the intervention.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>Overall, the results of this project showed an increase in knowledge of the participants following the interventions, in most areas.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The results of this project, though small, demonstrate the gap in knowledge which nurses have surrounding ASD.</p>