Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Educators Allied Health and Direct Care Professionals Dealing with Autistic Children: A Non-Randomized Quasi-Experimental Pretest-Posttest Study
Keywords:
social communication, autism spectrum disorder-care pathway, applied behavior analysis, knowledge, practice, perceptionAbstract
A knowledgeable, well-trained professional dealing with autistic children can minimize or reduce challenging behaviors. However, educators, allied health, and direct care professionals need to be adequately trained and equipped to meet these challenges daily in giving evidence-based care. This quasi-experimental pretest-post test study investigates whether an evidence-based intervention, autism spectrum disorder-care pathway (ASD-CP), has significantly changed the knowledge, attitude, and practice and the importance of educating these professionals. A pretest and post-test survey questionnaire were used, with the intervention taking place at two different locations, one at the school of autism and another in a group home of the institute. The results indicate the training effectively improved participants’ knowledge measured by using the survey questionnaire. Similarly, the increase in average participants’ scores of their attitudes, interests, and perceived self-efficacy toward individuals with ASD indicates the training was practical and effective. Notably, there was an increase in participants’ awareness of structured training, relationship development, joint attention, and naturalistic teaching techniques after the training. The study suggested increased knowledge, attitude, practice, and professional awareness of interventions as evidence-based practices in educators, allied health, and direct support professionals dealing with ASD children during the twelve weeks of the study at the institute.
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