TY - JOUR EP - 162 A1 - Crane, L A1 - Chester, JW A1 - Goddard, L A1 - Henry, LA A1 - Hill, EL KW - autism KW - autism spectrum disorder KW - diagnosis KW - parent KW - satisfaction KW - support KW - survey IS - 2 TI - Experiences of autism diagnosis: A survey of over 1000 parents in the United Kingdom Y1 - 2016/02// VL - 20 SP - 153 SN - 1461-7005 N2 - 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. AV - public N1 - This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher?s terms and conditions. ID - discovery1548895 UR - https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361315573636 PB - SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD JF - Autism ER -