Adults with Autism IPA v3.1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Qualitative Exploration into the Experience of Psychological Therapy with Adults with Autism using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
IRAS ID
270698
Contact name
Ian Smith
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancaster University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
This research aims to explore what adults with autism have found helpful from post-diagnostic psychological therapy.
Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) is a lifelong condition defined by social communication and interaction differences with restricted interests or repetitive behaviours. Diagnosis of ASC in adults is steadily increasing and this research proposal will focus on the experience of adults with ASC (AwA) who do not have a Learning Disability (LD). Within the UK, existing post-diagnostic service provision for AwA is extremely limited compared to the number of services available for AwA who also have an LD. This is of concern as AwA report significantly higher unmet needs and suicidality compared to the general population. They also report barriers to receiving appropriately adjusted mental health support.
Currently, the evidence for how effective psychological therapies are for AwA is extremely limited, as the majority of the autism research has been focussed on children with autism or AwA who also have a LD. Studies examining the effectiveness of therapy have failed to identify what approaches or adaptations are effective. However, there is a general consensus that specialist autism-adapted therapies are needed.
We aim to conduct one-to-one interviews with ten AwA (aged 18 years and over) to evaluate the factors they have found most helpful from their experiences of psychological therapy in the UK. I intend for the findings to be useful for developing best practice guidance for mental health services and practitioners when working therapeutically with AwA. I hope this will support mainstream services to provide appropriate and reasonable adjustments to psychological therapy and enhance psychological well-being for this population.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EM/0163
Date of REC Opinion
16 Jul 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion