Autism awareness and attitudes towards treatment in caregivers of children aged 3-6 years in Harbin, China.
OBJECTIVE
To (1) estimate the proportion of people in the community who could correctly recognize autism spectrum disorders (ASD); (2) describe the attitudes towards various treatments for ASD; and (3) identify factors associated with ASD recognition.


METHODS
A population-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in Harbin, China (n = 4,947). We estimated the proportions of participants who were at different levels of knowledge about ASD and of their attitudes towards mental health service use. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to identify factors associated with the recognition of ASD.


RESULTS
Overall, 2,786 (57.8%) of the respondents could recognize the ASD. Recognition of autism depended on gender, residing areas, age and educational levels. With respect to the attitudes towards mental health service use for ASD, 4,007 respondents (84.6%) chose to visit a health organization for treatment; 2,470 (68.2%) made the choice of consulting a psychotherapist.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a large room for improvement in awareness about ASD and treatment in the Chinese communities. Insufficient knowledge about ASD and inappropriate attitudes towards mental health service use may impede the efforts of early identification and intervention. Health education and promotion are needed to improve people's knowledge about ASD and available mental health services.
Department of Children's and Adolescent Health, Public Health College of Harbin Medical University, 157 Baojian Road, Nangang District, Harbin, 150086, People's Republic of China.
Jia
J
Wang
Xue
X
Zhou
Wei
W
Xia
Caihong
C
Sun
Lijie
L
Wu
Jianli
J
Wang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires