An Examination of First Responder Gains Following an Autism Training Based on Personal and Professional Characteristics

PURPOSE: Autistic people are likely to encounter first responders, which frequently results in ineffective or even harmful experiences for autistic people. Trainings have been developed to improve first responders' efficacy with responding to situations involving autistic people and their families. The present study examines the impact of professional and personal characteristics on participants' confidence, self-efficacy, and knowledge in providing first response to autistic people following an autism training. METHODS: This study examined pre- and post- training measures completed by participants compared baseline, outcome, and change scores across participant groups, identifying the influence of professional role, personal relationships, and other demographic characteristics on training gains. RESULTS: Findings show that, regardless of professional role and personal relationship status, participants improved across outcomes following the training. Law enforcement officers entered training with higher self-efficacy and saw less improvement overall. Those with a close and a distal personal relationship showed higher baseline confidence and self-efficacy, and participants with a close personal relationship had higher outcome confidence scores as well. Participants without a personal relationship saw more change in confidence than those with a close or a distal relationship to autism. CONCLUSION: Overall, the autism training improved participant confidence, self-efficacy, and knowledge in responding to situations involving autistic people, regardless of their professional role or relationship to autism. Ensuring that all providers are trained or re-trained, regardless of their personal relationship, goal, or other demographic, is an important step towards improving efficacy of first response for autistic people.