Psychological Impact of Autism Screening on Caregivers

Autism screening in childhood is common, yet little is known about its potential psychological impact on caregivers. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent national panel of disease prevention experts, stated that this gap in knowledge limited their ability to endorse universal autism screening. This study examined the psychological impact of autism screening, using data from a large community-based sample (n = 1272) involving online caregiver-completed autism screeners at child age 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. Caregivers completed the Participation Impact Questionnaire retrospectively (mean child age at completion 37.2 ± 4.8 months) to measure feelings about screening. A minority (34.7%) of the sample reported presence of ≥ 1 negative feeling; the most commonly endorsed was "worried". Among this subset, negative feelings were of short duration (lasted for < 1 day in 56.9%), were mild in severity (86.4%), and did not affect functioning (85.3%). A majority (86.2%) also reported ≥ 1 positive feeling. Our findings address a critical evidence gap regarding potential harms of autism screening and support universal screening, given that psychological harms are not common and have low functional impact, as well as possible psychological benefits.