Özet:

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of health professionals working in Family Health Centers (FHCs) on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their opinions on early diagnosis. Method: The cross-sectional study was conducted with 192 health care professionals (physician, nurse, midwife) working at the FHCs in a city center between February and March 2020. Data was collected with questionnaire form that includes Introductory Information Form, ASD Information Scale, and opinions about ASD. In the evaluation of the obtained data; descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used. The significance level was accepted as p<0,05. Results: ASD knowledge level of health professionals included in the research, generally found to be moderate and high. It was determined that there is a significant difference between the health professionals' age, educational status, profession, years of employment, follow-up of healthy children and previous education on Autism and the total average score of the ASD Knowledge Scale. It was determined that there was a significant difference between the health professionals' knowledge of ASD and the fact that they found themselves sufficient in discriminating the child with ASD findings, the status of encountering ASD findings in children while on duty, their opinions on the possibility of early diagnosis of ASD in the FHCs and the total average score of the ASD Knowledge Scale. Conclusion: It was determined that the health professionals working in the FHCs; had 'knowledgeable' about ASD and this knowledge increased depending on their professional experience.

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