Cooper, Kate;
van der Miesen, Anna IR;
Lai, Meng-Chuan;
(2025)
Autism Diagnostic Assessments for Gender-Diverse Individuals: A Modified Delphi Study of Clinician Experts in the Fields of Autism and Gender Diversity.
JAACAP Open
10.1016/j.jaacop.2025.10.001.
(In press).
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Abstract
Objective: There is limited evidence-based guidance about how autism diagnostic assessments should be conducted for gender-diverse people. We aimed to integrate expert knowledge on key clinical considerations for these assessments. Method: We conducted a modified Delphi study. World experts in the field (N=21) were invited to complete two rounds of surveys. Survey One collected open-text responses about key clinical considerations when conducting diagnostic assessments, structured around the DSM-5-TR criteria for autism, across age-ranges. Experts were asked to rate the importance of each consideration they listed. A content analysis was conducted to synthesise and collate similar considerations, alongside descriptive statistics of importance ratings. Survey Two presented the resulting considerations and mean importance ratings, with experts re-rating their importance. Statements rated as at least ‘important’ and that had a standard deviation of less than 1.0 were reported. Results: Round one resulted in 65 individual statements, of which 37 met our definition for reporting. These statements, summarizing expert opinions, were categorised as being (1) general considerations for assessments, (2) linked to the DSM-5-TR autism criteria (A-E), or (3) practical considerations for working with the gender-diverse population. They highlighted areas to be considered during assessments, such as ways in which the features of autism may intersect with gender diversity, and practical considerations for increasing comfort and engagement of gender-diverse individuals undergoing an autism assessment. Conclusion: The summary of expert opinions provides preliminary considerations for clinicians working in this field, and for researchers to use as hypotheses for empirical investigations.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Autism Diagnostic Assessments for Gender-Diverse Individuals: A Modified Delphi Study of Clinician Experts in the Fields of Autism and Gender Diversity |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jaacop.2025.10.001 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaacop.2025.10.001 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | autism, autism assessments, gender identity, gGender diversity, Delphi study |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10216273 |
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