Evaluation of Clinician Training in Autism Screening, Care Management, and Patient Education

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O’Hagan, B., White, J. L., Hardesty, I., Amgott, R., Bangham, C., Liu, X., Codner, A., Ursitti, A., Chandler, A., Foster, S., Augustyn, M., & Greece, J. (2024). Evaluation of Clinician Training in Autism Screening, Care Management, and Patient Education. Open Journal of Pediatrics, 14(03), 488-513. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojped.2024.143048

Publication date: 1 Jan 2024 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
12
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 12 (8.3%)
  1. Belinda O’Hagan
  2. Julie L. White
  3. Ilana Hardesty
  4. Rachel Amgott
  1. Candice Bangham
  2. Xinyang Liu
  3. Alyson Codner
  4. A. Ursitti
  1. Alana Chandler
  2. Sarah Foster *
  3. Marilyn Augustyn
  4. Jacey Greece

Abstract

Objective: The demand for pediatric developmental evaluations has far exceeded the workforce available to perform them, which creates long significant wait times for services. A year-long clinician training using the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO®) model with monthly meetings was conducted and evaluated for its impact on primary care clinicians’ self-reported self-efficacy, ability to administer autism screening and counsel families, professional fulfillment, and burnout. Methods: Participants represented six community health centers and a hospital-based practice. Data collection was informed by participant feedback and the Normalization Process Theory via online surveys and focus groups/interviews. Twelve virtual monthly trainings were delivered between November 2020 and October 2021. Results: 30 clinicians participated in data collection. Matched analyses (n = 9) indicated statistically significant increase in self-rated ability to counsel families about autism (Pre-test Mean = 3.00, Post-test Mean = 3.89, p = 0.0313), manage autistic patients’ care (Pre-test Mean = 2.56, Post-test Mean = 4.11, p = 0.0078), empathy toward patients (Pre-test Mean = 2.11, Post-test Mean = 1.22, p = 0.0156) and colleagues (Pre-test Mean = 2.33, Post-test Mean = 1.22, respectively, p = 0.0391). Unmatched analysis revealed increases in participants confident about educating patients about autism (70.59%, post-test n = 12 vs. 3.33%, pre-test n = 1, p = 0.0019). Focus groups found increased confidence in using the term “autism”. Conclusion: Participants reported increases in ability and confidence to care for autistic patients, as well as empathy toward patients and colleagues. Future research should explore long-term outcomes in participants’ knowledge retention, confidence in practice, and improvements to autism evaluations and care.

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: 2 Oct 2026 08:02.

Cited references
42
With a DOI
41
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
1
2 / 42 (4.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 42 (2.4%)
References with detected author names
41 / 42 (97.6%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
1
References with raw author names still to review
1
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
265
From DOI or external metadata
265
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
61 / 265 (23.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 204 / 265 (77.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
2 / 265 (0.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 2 / 61 (3.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 2 / 235 (0.9%).
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