Understanding healthcare professionals’ experiences supporting Autistic people in perinatal care: A qualitative study

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. four authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Love, A., Edwards, C., Rideout, B., Hollenberg, L., Clapham, H., Wiltshire, G. E., Robinson, A., Cai, R. Y., Benzie, C., Rabba, A. S., & gibbs, v. (2026). Understanding healthcare professionals’ experiences supporting Autistic people in perinatal care: A qualitative study. Midwifery, 160, 104868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2026.104868

Publication date: 25 May 2026 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
11
Publication authors identified as autistic
4 / 11 (36.4%)
  1. Abigail Love
  2. Chris Edwards *
  3. Bronwyn Rideout
  4. Linda Hollenberg
  1. Hayley Clapham *
  2. Gilly-Elle Wiltshire *
  3. Ainslie Robinson *
  4. Ru Ying Cai
  1. Charlie Benzie
  2. Aspasia Stacey Rabba
  3. vicki gibbs

Abstract

PROBLEM: Autistic individuals face disproportionately poor outcomes during the perinatal period. BACKGROUND: Lived experience accounts highlight that challenges in interactions with healthcare professionals can reduce birth satisfaction and contribute to traumatic experiences, revealing significant gaps in current perinatal care for this population; yet few studies have explored the experiences of healthcare workers providing this care in Australia. Understanding clinicians' perspectives is essential to inform targeted training, improve care practices, and promote better outcomes for Autistic people during pregnancy and early parenthood. AIM: This study explored, through qualitative analysis, the experiences of Australian perinatal healthcare clinicians providing care for Autistic individuals, during pregnancy and early parenthood. METHODS: Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted on interview and focus group data of 13 perinatal professionals from diverse roles within perinatal healthcare. FINDINGS: Three key themes were created, highlighting the need for targeted training and systemic changes, alongside evidence that professionals often relied on personal experience when formal training was lacking. DISCUSSION: These findings are consistent with international research on perinatal care for Autistic people, but this study is the first to directly examine the perspectives of Australian clinicians, providing unique insights into local practice and challenges that can be leveraged to make systemic change. CONCLUSION: Despite systemic and cultural barriers, Australian perinatal healthcare professionals demonstrate strong commitment to providing individualized, person-centred care for Autistic individuals during pregnancy and early parenthood.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

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: 2 Oct 2026 13:57.

Cited references
37
With a DOI
34
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
3
9 / 37 (24.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 37 (2.7%)
References with detected author names
36 / 37 (97.3%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
3
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
210
From DOI or external metadata
210
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
95 / 210 (45.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 115 / 210 (54.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
24 / 210 (11.4%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 24 / 95 (25.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 18 / 187 (9.6%).
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