Gallaher Laura, Butler Ceri, Banerjee Sube, Wright Juliet, White Ann, Daley Stephanie
Centre for Dementia Studies, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Department of Medical Education, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Front Rehabil Sci. 2023 Feb 28;4:1096117. doi: 10.3389/fresc.2023.1096117. eCollection 2023.
The global prevalence of autism is reported to be at least 1% and is rising. Autistic people have a range of comorbidities resulting in a high use of health services. Doctors of nearly all specialties are likely to encounter autistic people in their practice. Autistic people report dissatisfactory care and encounter disproportionately worse health-related outcomes than non-autistic people, which in part has been attributed to a lack of skill and awareness in the medical workforce. At present, autism education is not always included in undergraduate medical curricula. In England, the Department of Health and Social Care has mandated that autism education should be included in all undergraduate medical curricula but current evidence relating to the delivery and receipt of autism education is poor. A greater understanding of medical student perceptions of autism education is required to inform curriculum development. This qualitative study sought to explore the perceptions of autism education in final year medical students at a medical school in South-East England by 1) assessing their perceived preparedness to care for autistic people once they have graduated from medical school and 2) determining their perceived acceptability of a new undergraduate education programme, Time for Autism (TfA).
A purposeful sample of ten final-year medical students were recruited. Students completed in-depth, individual interviews. Data was analysed using thematic analysis.
Four key themes were identified: Learning environment, Exposure, Relevance and Curricular priority. The findings of this study indicate that medical students perceived greatest value in autism education when it was directly relevant to developing preparedness for practice. Value was influenced by the perceived curricular priority attached to autism education. The new autism programme, Time for Autism was perceived to add relevance and priority to autism education in the existing curriculum in this medical school setting.
The study findings shed new light on medical education literature, emphasising the importance of congruence between the provision of autism education and the prioritisation of autism education within the curriculum. Consideration of relevance and curricular priority can be used to support the development of autism education in future medical curricula.
据报道，全球自闭症患病率至少为1%，且呈上升趋势。自闭症患者存在一系列合并症，导致其对医疗服务的使用率较高。几乎所有专科的医生在其执业过程中都可能会遇到自闭症患者。自闭症患者报告称，他们得到的护理不尽人意，与非自闭症患者相比，他们在健康相关方面的结果要差得多，部分原因是医疗人员缺乏相关技能和意识。目前，自闭症教育并不总是纳入本科医学课程。在英国，卫生和社会保健部已规定，自闭症教育应纳入所有本科医学课程，但目前有关自闭症教育的提供和接受情况的证据不足。需要更深入地了解医学生对自闭症教育的看法，以为课程开发提供参考。这项定性研究旨在通过以下方式探索英格兰东南部一所医学院的医学专业最后一年学生对自闭症教育的看法：1）评估他们认为自己从医学院毕业后照顾自闭症患者的准备程度；2）确定他们对一个新的本科教育项目“自闭症时间”（TfA）的可接受程度。
选取了十名医学专业最后一年的学生作为有目的的样本。学生们完成了深入的个人访谈。采用主题分析法对数据进行分析。
确定了四个关键主题：学习环境、接触机会、相关性和课程优先级。本研究结果表明，当自闭症教育与培养实践准备直接相关时，医学生认为其具有最大价值。价值受自闭症教育在课程中被感知到的优先级影响。新的自闭症项目“自闭症时间”被认为增加了这所医学院现有课程中自闭症教育的相关性和优先级。
研究结果为医学教育文献提供了新的视角，强调了自闭症教育的提供与课程中自闭症教育的优先级之间一致性的重要性。对相关性和课程优先级的考量可用于支持未来医学课程中自闭症教育的发展。
