title: Beyond an autism diagnosis: children's functional independence and parents' unmet needs.
abstract: High demand has resulted in gaps in autism service provision. Our objective was to explore the association between children's functioning and parents' perceived unmet needs. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 97 families of school-aged children with an autism spectrum disorder. Log binomial regression was used to examine the relative risk for unmet need. Families of children with high functional independence had lower unmet need than families of children with moderate functional independence (RR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.67-0.99). Those who experienced greater impact of the child's disability had greater unmet need (RR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.03-1.45). The child's functioning and its impact on the family provide insight into unmet need which may inform service planning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen's University, 191 Portsmouth Avenue, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. hilary.brown@queensu.ca
authors.forename: Hilary K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ouellette-Kuntz
authors.forename: Duncan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cobigo
authors.forename: Miu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires