Knowledge about childhood autism among care providers in Baghdad

Background: Autism is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder. Poor knowledge about childhood autism among care providers could delay early recognition and interventions that could negatively affect prognosis. Objectives: To assess the knowledge level of autism disorder among care providers working in a sample of health facilities in Baghdad and to determine the factors that may have influenced such knowledge. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with an analytic element was conducted in 18 primary health care centers and two specialized pediatric hospitals in Baghdad during the period from 6th February to 11th May 2011. Simple random sampling was used to select the health care centers. Data were collected by direct interview with the participant doctors working in the selected health facilities via a structured questionnaire for general socio-demographic information and autism domains to asses their knowledge level about childhood autism. Results: 200 doctors were interviewed regarding their knowledge about childhood autism; of those110 (55%) were general practitioners, 46(23%) pediatric residents, 24(12%) pediatric specialists, and a further 20 (10%) were family and community medicine specialists. Most participants (95%) were aware of autism disorder. More than half (56.5%) of the respondents knew the correct age of establishment of autism, including signs and symptoms (1-4) years of age. There was a highly significant statistical difference between specialty of participants and the mean scores of different autistic domains with the highest mean score recorded among the pediatric specialists and the lowest mean score among the general practitioners working in the primary health care centers. Conclusion: The specialty as well as the working place of enrolled doctors highly influenced their knowledge level of autism.