Watts Georgina, Crompton Catherine, Grainger Catherine, Long Joseph, Botha Monique, Somerville Mark, Cage Eilidh
University of Stirling, UK.
The University of Edinburgh, UK.
Autism. 2025 Sep;29(9):2239-2253. doi: 10.1177/13623613241255811. Epub 2024 Jun 3.
There is an increasing focus on research exploring autistic communication and community. In this review, we systematically collate and analyse how autistic adults describe their experiences of other autistic people and the relationship this has with their Quality of Life (QoL). Fifty two qualitative papers were analysed using thematic meta-synthesis. Results found many experiences of other autistic people were positive and were associated with improved QoL across a range of domains. The heterogeneity of the autistic experiences described indicates a need for further research to explore which factors predict a positive impact on QoL. Analysis also highlighted a paucity of data on autistic people with co-occurring intellectual disability in relation to this phenomenon. Implications for research and practice are discussed.Lay abstractResearch has suggested that autistic people enjoy spending time with other autistic people and find them easier to talk to. We wanted to find out what autistic people say about spending time with other autistic people and whether this makes their life better. We found 52 papers which described this and reviewed what they found. We found that many autistic people had positive experiences of spending time with other autistic people and these experiences had positive impact on their lives in a range of different ways. The papers did not tell us whether this also happens for autistic people with a learning disability. More research is needed to find out more about why spending time with other autistic people helps some autistic people.
目前，对于探索自闭症沟通与社群的研究关注度日益增加。在本综述中，我们系统地整理并分析了成年自闭症患者如何描述他们与其他自闭症患者相处的经历，以及这种经历与他们生活质量（QoL）之间的关系。我们使用主题元综合分析法对52篇定性研究论文进行了分析。结果发现，与其他自闭症患者相处的许多经历都是积极的，并且与多个领域生活质量的改善相关。所描述的自闭症经历的异质性表明，需要进一步开展研究，以探索哪些因素能预测对生活质量产生积极影响。分析还凸显出，关于同时患有智力残疾的自闭症患者在这一现象方面的数据匮乏。本文讨论了该研究对科研与实践的启示。
研究表明，自闭症患者喜欢与其他自闭症患者共度时光，并且觉得与他们交谈更容易。我们想了解自闭症患者对于与其他自闭症患者共度时光有何看法，以及这是否让他们的生活更美好。我们找到了52篇描述这一情况的论文，并对其研究结果进行了综述。我们发现，许多自闭症患者与其他自闭症患者共度时光的经历是积极的，并且这些经历在一系列不同方面对他们的生活产生了积极影响。这些论文没有告诉我们，对于有学习障碍的自闭症患者来说，情况是否也是如此。需要开展更多研究，以进一步了解与其他自闭症患者共度时光对一些自闭症患者有帮助的原因。
