Abstract
Objective: A marked increase in prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), particularly in the past decade, has stimulated worldwide interest in exploring broader circumstances of care of autistic children. The aims of our study were to found how family socioeconomic status (SES) influences the age at diagnosis of ASD, and to find out more about information sources that Czech families use for gaining information on autism.
Methods: Our sample comprised 50 children (41 boys, 9 girls; mean age 7.0?2.8 years, range 3.1-14.8) who were clinically examined and whose parents completed a questionnaire focused on the family situation and family information about autism. Diagnosis of ASD was confirmed in 43 children (86% of the sample).
Results: The age at the diagnosis correlated significantly negatively with the education of the mother (p=0.011) as well as of the father (p=0.041); thus, higher education of the parents was associated with an earlier diagnosis of the child. Family SES did not correlate with the age at the diagnosis.
The majority of the parents (72%) came to the diagnostic hospitalization with a belief that their child was autistic. The vast majority of responders (94%) confirmed that they had found some information on autism already before the diagnostic stay at the hospital.
Mothers were the more active family members in gaining information than fathers (64%). In remaining cases, both parents were equally active.
We did not observe any case when father would have been the more active parent. The mean number of information sources on autism was 3.2 (? 1.8) with a range 0-9.
The number of sources did not correlate with the age at the diagnosis. The most used information sources were the Internet (72%) and child psychiatrists (56%).
The results were discussed in the context of international experience.