Teaching higher education staff to understand and support autistic students: evaluation of a novel training program

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Jenks, E., Selman, F., Harmens, M., Boon, S., Tran, T., Hobson, H., Eagle, S., & Sedgewick, F. (2023). Teaching higher education staff to understand and support autistic students: evaluation of a novel training program. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1264895-1264895. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1264895

Publication date: 19 Dec 2023 Added to AutiHub: 10 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
8
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 8 (12.5%)
  1. Emma Jenks
  2. Freya Selman
  3. Miriam Harmens
  4. Sarah Boon *
  1. Trang Tran
  2. Hannah Hobson
  3. Sarah Eagle
  4. Felicity Sedgewick

Abstract

Background Autistic students are particularly vulnerable to stressors within a university environment and are more likely to experience poor mental health than their non-autistic peers. Students’ experiences of stigma from staff and peers, and the masking behaviors they deploy to minimize it, can also result in worsening mental health. Despite these concerns, there is a lack of tailored support for autistic students at university. The current project assesses a co-created training course for university staff focused on debunking stereotypes, educating about the autistic experience at university, mental health presentation among autistic individuals, and practical strategies to improve interactions with autistic students. Methods The Autism Stigma and Knowledge Questionnaire [ASK-Q] was administered before and after the training, to examine changes in trainees’ understanding and acceptance of autism and autistic people. Post-training interviews and surveys were also conducted with trainees, covering the impact the training has had on their perceptions of autism, the strategies they found beneficial, and how they will use the materials in future. Results There were no statistically significant differences between pre- and post-training scores on the ASK-Q, likely due to ceiling effects as pre-training scores were high. Thematic analysis of interviews identified five themes: value of lived experience; developing nuanced, in-depth knowledge of autism; training as acceptable and feasible; links to professional practice; and systemic barriers. Conclusion Although ceiling effects meant there were no changes to participant’s knowledge about autism and autistic people statistically, the qualitative data reveals the extensive benefits they gained from taking part in the training programs. Scoring highly on the ASK-Q did not mean that people could not learn important new information and benefit from the course. This more nuanced understanding of autism led to practical changes in their practice. Listening to and learning from autistic people was seen as particularly important, highlighting the value of co-production. Our results also emphasize the need for varied approaches to evaluating training effectiveness, as reliance on quantitative data alone would have missed the subtler, but impactful, changes our participants experienced. This has important implications for professional practice, both within higher education and more broadly.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 07:09.

Cited references
47
With a DOI
44
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
3
9 / 47 (19.1%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 47 (2.1%)
References with detected author names
46 / 47 (97.9%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
2
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
174
From DOI or external metadata
174
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
92 / 174 (52.9%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 82 / 174 (47.1%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
10 / 174 (5.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 10 / 92 (10.9%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 9 / 145 (6.2%).
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