Investigating social skills in female Autism 1

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  A qualitative study looking at the strategies that adult high functioning women on the autistic spectrum report in order to compensate for and ‘mask’ social skills difficulties.

• IRAS ID

  169142

• Contact name

  Aimee Jane Hooper

• Contact email

  psp2ce@bangor.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Bangor University

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  To date there is minimal research that has attempted to specifically ask women with high functioning autism (HFA) exactly what it is they do to cope in social situations and what age they may have first started noticing they were different from their peers. There is also minimal research that has attempted to ask what might have motivated them to hide possible difficulties in social interactions, and how and from whom they may have developed or learned strategies to help them cope in social situations.
  The purpose of the current qualitative study is to try and address this much needed area of research by attempting to answer the following question - ‘What strategies and techniques may females with high functioning Autism (HFA) be using in order to cope in social situations, and when, how and why might they do this?’ Such research might aid our understanding of how females with HFA present which may help to reduce the number of females with HFA who go unnoticed or misdiagnosed in the future.
  The current study will try to attempt to answer this research question by recruiting and interviewing eight English speaking HFA adult women (N = 8), aged 19 – 60 years, with a current diagnosis of ASD or Asperger syndrome. Prior to being invited to the interviews the participants would have already received their diagnosis, and any indicators of low intellectual functioning or learning difficulty indicative of more severe impairment would have been ruled out during the comprehensive clinical assessment process. All eight semi-structured interviews will be transcribed and qualitatively analysed through Applied Thematic Analysis.

• REC name

  Wales REC 5

• REC reference

  15/WA/0142

• Date of REC Opinion

  30 Apr 2015

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion