O’Hagan, Belinda and White, Julie and Hardesty, Ilana and Amgott, Rachel and Bangham, Candice and Liu, Xinyang and Codner, Alyson and Ursitti, Amy and Chandler, Alana and Foster, Sarah and Augustyn, Marilyn and Greece, Jacey (2024) Evaluation of Clinician Training in Autism Screening, Care Management, and Patient Education. Open Journal of Pediatrics, 14 (03). pp. 488-513. ISSN 2160-8741
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Abstract
Objective: The demand for pediatric developmental evaluations has far exceeded the workforce available to perform them, which creates long significant wait times for services. A year-long clinician training using the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO®) model with monthly meetings was conducted and evaluated for its impact on primary care clinicians’ self-reported self-efficacy, ability to administer autism screening and counsel families, professional fulfillment, and burnout. Methods: Participants represented six community health centers and a hospital-based practice. Data collection was informed by participant feedback and the Normalization Process Theory via online surveys and focus groups/interviews. Twelve virtual monthly trainings were delivered between November 2020 and October 2021. Results: 30 clinicians participated in data collection. Matched analyses (n = 9) indicated statistically significant increase in self-rated ability to counsel families about autism (Pre-test Mean = 3.00, Post-test Mean = 3.89, p = 0.0313), manage autistic patients’ care (Pre-test Mean = 2.56, Post-test Mean = 4.11, p = 0.0078), empathy toward patients (Pre-test Mean = 2.11, Post-test Mean = 1.22, p = 0.0156) and colleagues (Pre-test Mean = 2.33, Post-test Mean = 1.22, respectively, p = 0.0391). Unmatched analysis revealed increases in participants confident about educating patients about autism (70.59%, post-test n = 12 vs. 3.33%, pre-test n = 1, p = 0.0019). Focus groups found increased confidence in using the term “autism”. Conclusion: Participants reported increases in ability and confidence to care for autistic patients, as well as empathy toward patients and colleagues. Future research should explore long-term outcomes in participants’ knowledge retention, confidence in practice, and improvements to autism evaluations and care.
Item Type: | Article |
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Subjects: | Journal Eprints > Medical Science |
Depositing User: | Managing Editor |
Date Deposited: | 11 May 2024 09:47 |
Last Modified: | 11 May 2024 09:47 |
URI: | http://repository.journal4submission.com/id/eprint/3812 |