1 University College London, UK.
2 Ambitious about Autism, UK.
Autism. 2019 Feb;23(2):477-493. doi: 10.1177/1362361318757048. Epub 2018 Feb 7.
There is a high incidence and prevalence of mental health problems among young people, with several barriers to help-seeking noted in this group. High rates of mental health problems have also been reported in children and adults on the autism spectrum. Taken together, young autistic people may be a particularly vulnerable group when it comes to mental health. Yet, there has been remarkably little work on the mental health needs and experiences of young autistic adults (16-25 years). Adopting a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach - in which academic researchers and young autistic adults collaborated in an equitable research partnership - we explored young autistic people's experiences of mental health problems and their perspectives on the support they sought, if any, for these problems. A total of 130 young autistic adults took part in the research: 109 completed an online survey and 21 took part in detailed interviews. The results highlight how young autistic people find it difficult to evaluate their mental health, experience high levels of stigma and often face severe obstacles when trying to access mental health support. The findings also demonstrate how listening to - and learning from - young autistic people is crucial in ensuring that their mental health needs are met.
年轻人的心理健康问题发生率和流行率都很高，该群体存在寻求帮助的多种障碍。自闭症谱系儿童和成人的心理健康问题发生率也很高。综上所述，在心理健康方面，年轻的自闭症患者可能是一个特别脆弱的群体。然而，针对年轻自闭症成年人（16-25 岁）的心理健康需求和体验，几乎没有开展什么工作。本研究采用了基于社区的参与式研究（CBPR）方法——学术研究人员和年轻的自闭症成年人在平等的研究伙伴关系中合作——我们探讨了年轻自闭症患者的心理健康问题体验，以及他们对这些问题寻求支持的看法（如果有的话）。共有 130 名年轻的自闭症成年人参与了这项研究：109 人完成了在线调查，21 人接受了详细的访谈。研究结果突出了年轻自闭症患者如何难以评估自己的心理健康状况，他们经历了高度的污名化，并且在试图获得心理健康支持时经常面临严重的障碍。研究结果还表明，倾听和向年轻自闭症患者学习对于确保满足他们的心理健康需求至关重要。
