%0 Journal Article %@ 1461-7005 %A Crane, L %A Chester, JW %A Goddard, L %A Henry, LA %A Hill, EL %D 2016 %F discovery:1548895 %I SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD %J Autism %K autism, autism spectrum disorder, diagnosis, parent, satisfaction, support, survey %N 2 %P 153-162 %T Experiences of autism diagnosis: A survey of over 1000 parents in the United Kingdom %U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1548895/ %V 20 %X A sample of 1047 parents completed an online survey about their experiences and opinions regarding the process of attaining a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder for their children. The results revealed that parents usually waited a year from when they first had concerns about their child’s development before they sought professional help. On average, there was a delay of around 3.5 years from the point at which parents first approached a health professional with their concerns to the confirmation of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Just over half of the parents surveyed were dissatisfied with the diagnostic process as a whole. Several factors predicted parents’ overall levels of satisfaction with the diagnostic process, including the time taken to receive a diagnosis, satisfaction with the information provided at diagnosis, the manner of the diagnosing professional, the stress associated with the diagnostic process and satisfaction with post-diagnostic support. Post-diagnosis, the support (if any) that was provided to parents was deemed unsatisfactory, and this was highlighted as an area of particular concern among parents. %Z This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.