Autism knowledge and Attitudes: A National survey among Saudi Pediatricians

ABSTRACT

Autism is a known developmental disorder that is prevalent across the world. Saudi Arabia has largely beendisadvantaged with respect to evidence-based research on autism. The presence of limited research and studieson autism in Saudi Arabia has an impact on how pediatricians undertake their treatment interventions on childrenwith autism. This study assesses the awareness levels of Saudi pediatricians with regards to knowledge andattitudes towards autism among children. The degree of knowledge and attitudes displayed by the respondentshave a direct correlation with the level of care and treatment for autism. This study is thus a baseline case whichcan be used to inform future treatment interventions for autism. The study showed that male children were morelikely to be in the risk of being affected by autism which according to the analysis obtained from the chi squaregender was not a significance of likeliness of a child being affected by autism. Correlation was used to determinethe strength of the relationship between lack of eye contact as a result of autism causing communication disorder,a correlation of -0.132 which implied a weak negative relationship between the two variables. From the chisquare, a p value of 0.808 was obtained which indicated that there was insufficient statistical significance to theclaim that there was a difference between gender and long-life condition of autism.