Access to care for autism-related services.
This paper identifies family characteristics associated with use of autism-related services. A telephone or in-person survey was completed during 2003-2005 by 383 North Carolina families with a child 11 years old or younger with ASD. Access to care is limited for racial and ethnic minority families, with low parental education, living in nonmetropolitan areas, and not following a major treatment approach. Service use is more likely when parents have higher stress. Families use a broad array of services; the mix varies with child ASD diagnosis and age group. Disparities in service use associated with race, residence and education point to the need to develop policy, practice and family-level interventions that can address barriers to services for children with ASD.
Thomas
Kathleen C
KC
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 725 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. CB#7590, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590, USA. kathleen_thomas@unc.edu
Ellis
Alan R
AR
McLaurin
Carolyn
C
Daniels
Julie
J
Morrissey
Joseph P
JP
D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014600:Utilization Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data