Investigating physicians' perspectives on diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders

In Turkey, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed by child psychiatrists and child neurologists. Providing accurate and early diagnosis of ASD is dependent on a number of variations such as diagnostic tools, parents' attitudes, and different kinds of collaborations. The aim of this research is to identify the diagnostic steps and the experiences of child psychiatrists and child neurologists employed at a university hospital in Central Anatolia Region. Qualitative interview methodology was employed in this study. Participants were six child psychiatrists, one psychiatrist, and three child neurologists working at a university hospital. Data were obtained through personal information forms and semi-structured interviews. As a result of the research, it was revealed that physicians investigate both organic and non-organic factors during the diagnosis and they think the lack of social interaction is the determiner of ASD. Results demonstrated that participant physicians mostly have recruited screening and diagnostic tools which have validity in Turkish language and apart from the assessment tools, they also gather more information about the child by monitoring his/her developmental progress. Based on the results, one can see that participant physicians mostly collaborate with their colleagues rather than special education experts. On the other hand, it was revealed that two participants think more collaborations between the physicians and special education experts is needed. It has been found that during the diagnosis, physicians face with negative reactions of parents and they provide psycho educational service to parents to prevent these reactions from affecting the diagnosis and to lead the child to early intervention programs at once. Participant physicians also stated that if necessary, they provide medical intervention and they guide the parents to special education. In addition, it was revealed that parents' reactions are the most common problems they come across during the diagnosis of ASD. Based on the opinions of the participant physicians, it is clear that changing life styles is the mostly stated reason of the prevalence of ASD. The findings of the study were correlated with the findings obtained in the literature and suggestions were made to the practitioners and researchers.