Meeting the mental health needs of autistic college students: a survey of university and college counseling center clinicians

Abstract

Objective

University and college counseling centers (UCCCs) are a front-line support for the mental health needs of autistic students, though little is known about clinician attitudes, comfort level, and training in autism.

Participants

89 UCCC clinicians were recruited via email listservs.

Methods

The authors developed a survey which assessed attitudes, comfort level, and training in autism.

Results

The majority of clinicians (82.0%, n = 73) had interacted with autistic students in the past year, and reported high levels of comfort with treating anxiety and depression. However, a smaller number reported confidence in their ability to diagnose autism. Training on autism emerged as an important deficit, as 31.5% of the clinicians denied receiving training either in their educational program or the UCCC.

Conclusions

In this pilot study, clinicians reported a discrepancy between self-reported levels of comfort with autistic college students and past training, highlighting continuing education as an important area for future intervention.

Keywords:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• college mental health
• neurodiversity
• therapist attitudes
• university and college counseling center

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Duke University Campus Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.