Assessment of views of health professionals working in family health centers in Manisa on knowledge and early diagnosis on autism spectrum disorder

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of health professionals working in Manisa Family Health Centers (FHC) on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their opinions on early diagnosis. Materials and Methods: This descriptive and cros-sectional study was conducted at FHC in Manisa city center. The study sampling consists of 192 health professionals. Questionnaire form that includes Introductory Information Form, ASD Information Scale, and opinions about ASD was used for gathering data. Descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis test methods was used for evaluation of acquired data. The significance level of p value were taken < 0,05. Results: ASD knowledge level of health professionals included in the research, generally found to be medium and high. It was determined that there is a significant difference between the health professionals' age, educational status, profession, years of employment, follow-up of healthy children and previous education on Autism and the total average score of the ASD Knowledge Scale (p<0,05). It was determined that there was a significant difference between the health professionals' knowledge of ASD and the fact that they found themselves sufficient in discriminating the child with ASD findings, the status of encountering ASD findings in children while on duty, their opinions on the possibility of early diagnosis of ASD in the Family Health Center and the total average score of the ASD Knowledge Scale (p<0,05). Conclusion: It was found that the health professionals included in the study had sufficient ASD knowledge and increased depending on their professional experience.