MEDICAL STUDENTS' KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIETAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objectives: This study focuses on assessing autism knowledge and societal attitude among medical students in Karachi, who represent the future of healthcare. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in July, 2022. The targeted population was Medical students of Dow Medical College, Karachi. A survey was conducted to obtain information related to demographics, ASD related information, ASD knowledge and societal attitude on ASD symptoms through a questionnaire. Independent sample t-test was used to compare the mean ASD Knowledge and societal attitude score with groups by using SPSS. Level of significance was set on 5% for this study. Results: A total of 431students were invited to participate in this voluntary survey carried out to investigate their knowledge and societal attitude regarding ASD. Among the participants, 68.7% (296) were female, while 31.3% (135) were male. According to our results 425 out of 431 respondents were of the view that both the general public and medical students should be provided with basic knowledge regarding the symptoms and features of ASD. The study results revealed moderate to high awareness regarding autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among participants, with 64.3% recognizing it as a developmental disorder (mean = 3.62 ± 1.09). A majority correctly identified key characteristics, including poor social skills (73.3%), resistance to routine changes (70.3%), and the importance of special education (72.4%). Mean societal attitude score differed significantly (p < 0.001), with those who had an autistic family member 3.91±0.44 and also showed a significant difference (p = 0.005), with those who had attended ASD sessions, were higher mean scores (4.01±0.43) than those who had not (3.83±0.49). Conclusion: The findings of this study strongly support need for mandatory training and awareness programs on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in medical colleges to improve the ability of future practitioners to identify and manage ASD in clinical practice.