Autism Health Passport for Maternity Services
During pregnancy, women will interact with many different healthcare professionals and if they are not aware their patient is Autistic, they will not be mindful of Autistic modes of communication, sensory impairments, and the different needs of their patient.
This has often resulted in poor communication between health professionals and their Autistic patients, creating stressful and unpleasant experiences. This is particularly important within maternity services, as patients are particularly vulnerable, especially during birth.
A tool to record communication and sensory needs
Autism health passports are a tool for autistic people to record their communication and sensory needs, which are then passed on to their healthcare provider.
The collaboration set out to conduct an initial literature review on current Autism Health Passports, to evaluate their impact on the care provided to autistic patients, and any limitations currently experienced. HTC designed a questionnaire to undertake a qualitative survey of autistic birth parents to understand their views and experiences of maternity care and the Autism health passports.
The data obtained from the survey responses was expected to develop a new Autism health passport specifically for maternity services, which could be used to provide better care for autistic patients in the future.
Kat Williams, Research Lead, Non-Exec Director, Autistic UK:
"Autistic people have been understandably concerned about engaging with academic research due to a long history of deficit-focused studies within a medical paradigm and as such, collaborative research including autistic people at all stages of research is crucial if researchers are to address the community’s concerns. Not only did this collaboration meet this need, but it was also focused on an under researched, yet oft cited, tool to support autistic adults’ access to healthcare, addressing a key priority and potentially benefitting many autistic adults in the future".
Autistic UK is a disabled person’s organisation run by autistic people for autistic people.
www.autisticuk.org
