Gallagher, L;
Crane, L;
Dinneen, T;
Ibrahim, N;
Mulryan, N;
Bolshakova, N;
Harris, A;
... Pellicano, E; + view all
(2025)
Examining the barriers and facilitators to mental health service provision for autistic people in Ireland: a survey of psychiatrists.
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine
10.1017/ipm.2025.9.
(In press).
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Abstract
Background: Autistic people have high levels of mental ill-health and an increased risk of suicide across the lifespan. Yet autistic people report difficulties communicating with healthcare professionals and accessing a range of healthcare services. At the same time, mental healthcare workers in other countries are reporting links between confidence when working with autistic patients and the degree of autism knowledge and training they can access. Methods: We sought to examine what factors helped or hindered Irish mental healthcare colleagues when working with autistic healthcare service users. An online survey using quantitative and qualitative metrics was circulated among psychiatrists who are members of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, both in training and at consultant level, from April 2021 to April 2022. Results: Knowledge of autism was high among psychiatrists (n = 140), but self-efficacy scores were variable, particularly in relation to care pathways. Self-efficacy was better among psychiatrists with caseloads of children and youth or individuals with co-occurring intellectual disabilities. Three key qualitative themes emerged relating to capacity and training of mental health professionals, ways to improve mental health services provision for autistic individuals and also the critical need for co-creation and neurodiversity affirmative care. Conclusions: The study highlighted critical systemic and professional challenges in providing mental health care to autistic people in Ireland. We provide recommendations for reducing these challenges and for enabling the development of inclusive, evidenced-based care to autistic individuals.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Examining the barriers and facilitators to mental health service provision for autistic people in Ireland: a survey of psychiatrists |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/ipm.2025.9 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2025.9 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of College of Psychiatrists of Ireland. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Access to health care; autism; barriers to accessing mental health care; mental health |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207599 |
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