Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, Nigeria.
Ital J Pediatr. 2010 Jun 13;36:44. doi: 10.1186/1824-7288-36-44.
Knowledge and awareness about childhood autism is low among health care workers and the general populace in Nigeria. Poor knowledge about childhood autism among final year medical, nursing and psychology students who would form tomorrow's child health care professionals can compromise early recognition and interventions that are known to improve prognosis in childhood autism. Educational factors that could be influencing knowledge about childhood autism among these future health care professionals are unknown. This study assessed knowledge about childhood autism among final year undergraduate medical, nursing and psychology students in south-eastern Nigeria and determined the factors that could be influencing such knowledge.
One hundred final year undergraduate students were randomly selected from each of the Departments of Medicine, Nursing Science and Psychology respectively of University of Nigeria, Enugu State, Nigeria making a sample size of three hundred. A socio-demographic questionnaire and knowledge about childhood autism among health workers (KCAHW) questionnaire were administered to the students.
The total mean score for the three groups of students on the KCAHW questionnaire was 10.67+/-3.73 out of a possible total score of 19, with medical, nursing and psychology students having total mean scores of 12.24+/-3.24, 10.76+/-3.50 and 9.01+/-3.76 respectively. The mean scores for the three groups showed statistically significant difference for domain 1 (p=0.000), domain 3 (p=0.029), domain 4 (p=0.000) and total score (p=0.000), with medical students more likely to recognise symptoms and signs of autism compared to nursing and psychology students. The mean score in domain 2 did not show statistically significant difference among the three groups (p=0.769). The total score on the KCAHW questionnaire is positively correlated with the number of weeks of posting in psychiatry (r=0.319, p=0.000) and the number of weeks of posting in paediatrics (r=0.372, p=0.000). The total score is also positively correlated with the number of credit hours of lectures in psychiatry/abnormal psychology (r=0.324, p=0.000) and the number of credit hours of lectures in paediatrics (r=0.372, p=0.000). The field of study also influenced knowledge about childhood autism (p=0.000).
Peculiar situation in this environment as signified by inadequate human resources needed in the area of clinical psychology training often times necessitates employing first degree graduates in psychology into clinical positions. This calls for additional exposure of the undergraduate psychology students to training curriculum aimed at improving their early recognition of symptoms of autism spectrum disorders in this environment.
在尼日利亚，医疗保健工作者和普通民众对儿童自闭症的了解和认识都很低。对于即将成为儿童保健专业人员的医学、护理和心理学专业的最后一年学生来说，他们对儿童自闭症的知识有限，这可能会影响到对自闭症的早期识别和干预，而这些干预措施已知可以改善自闭症的预后。影响这些未来医疗保健专业人员对儿童自闭症知识的教育因素尚不清楚。本研究评估了尼日利亚东南部医学、护理和心理学专业的最后一年本科医学生对儿童自闭症的认识，并确定了可能影响这种认识的因素。
从尼日利亚埃努古州的尼日利亚大学医学、护理科学和心理学系各随机抽取 100 名最后一年的本科生，共 300 名学生。对学生进行了一份社会人口学问卷和一份儿童自闭症知识问卷（KCAHW）。
三组学生在 KCAHW 问卷上的总平均得分为 19 分中的 10.67+/-3.73 分，医学、护理和心理学学生的总平均得分为 12.24+/-3.24、10.76+/-3.50 和 9.01+/-3.76。三组学生在领域 1（p=0.000）、领域 3（p=0.029）、领域 4（p=0.000）和总分（p=0.000）上的平均分存在统计学显著差异，与护理和心理学学生相比，医学生更有可能识别自闭症的症状和体征。三组之间在领域 2 的平均分没有统计学显著差异（p=0.769）。KCAHW 问卷的总分与精神病学的实习周数（r=0.319，p=0.000）和儿科学的实习周数（r=0.372，p=0.000）呈正相关。总分也与精神病学/异常心理学的讲座学分数（r=0.324，p=0.000）和儿科学的讲座学分数（r=0.372，p=0.000）呈正相关。学习领域也影响了儿童自闭症的知识（p=0.000）。
在这种环境下，临床心理学培训领域所需的人力资源不足，这一特殊情况往往需要将心理学专业的第一学位毕业生安置到临床岗位。这就要求本科心理学专业的学生在这种环境下，增加对旨在提高他们对自闭症谱系障碍早期识别的培训课程的接触。
