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Comparison of an online adaptation of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service

BACKGROUND: Restrictions on in-person assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic were a challenge for an adult autism diagnostic service receiving over 600 referrals annually. The service sought to adapt the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) for online administration. AIMS: To investigat...

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Autores principales: Blackmore, Charlotte E., Nolan, Alexandra, Stoencheva, Vladimira, Greenwood, Natalie, Liu-Thwaites, Natasha, Maltezos, Stefanos, McAlonan, Grainne M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cambridge University Press 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10044163/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36876642
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.24
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author Blackmore, Charlotte E.
Nolan, Alexandra
Stoencheva, Vladimira
Greenwood, Natalie
Liu-Thwaites, Natasha
Maltezos, Stefanos
McAlonan, Grainne M.
author_facet Blackmore, Charlotte E.
Nolan, Alexandra
Stoencheva, Vladimira
Greenwood, Natalie
Liu-Thwaites, Natasha
Maltezos, Stefanos
McAlonan, Grainne M.
author_sort Blackmore, Charlotte E.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Restrictions on in-person assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic were a challenge for an adult autism diagnostic service receiving over 600 referrals annually. The service sought to adapt the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) for online administration. AIMS: To investigate whether an online adaptation of the ADOS-2 performed comparably to the in-person ADOS-2. To obtain qualitative feedback from patients and clinicians regarding experiences of the online alternative. METHOD: Online ADOS-2 assessments were completed for 163 referred individuals. A matched-comparison group comprised 198 individuals seen for an in-person ADOS-2 assessment prior to COVID-19 restrictions. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was run to explore any effect of assessment type (online or in-person ADOS-2) and gender on total ADOS score. Qualitative feedback was collected from 46 patients and 8 clinicians involved in diagnostic decision-making after the online ADOS-2 assessment. RESULTS: A two-way ANOVA found no significant effect of assessment type or gender and no assessment type × gender interaction effect on total ADOS score. Qualitative feedback suggested that only 27% of patients would have preferred an in-person assessment. Nearly all clinicians reported gains from offering an online alternative. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to examine an online adaptation of ADOS-2 within an adult autism diagnostic service. It performed comparably to the in-person ADOS-2, making it a viable alternative when in-person assessments are not possible. As this clinic group has high rates of comorbid mental health difficulties, we encourage further work to determine whether online assessment approaches generalise to other services to increase options for patients and efficiencies for service delivery.
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spelling pubmed-100441632023-03-29 Comparison of an online adaptation of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service Blackmore, Charlotte E. Nolan, Alexandra Stoencheva, Vladimira Greenwood, Natalie Liu-Thwaites, Natasha Maltezos, Stefanos McAlonan, Grainne M. BJPsych Open Paper BACKGROUND: Restrictions on in-person assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic were a challenge for an adult autism diagnostic service receiving over 600 referrals annually. The service sought to adapt the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) for online administration. AIMS: To investigate whether an online adaptation of the ADOS-2 performed comparably to the in-person ADOS-2. To obtain qualitative feedback from patients and clinicians regarding experiences of the online alternative. METHOD: Online ADOS-2 assessments were completed for 163 referred individuals. A matched-comparison group comprised 198 individuals seen for an in-person ADOS-2 assessment prior to COVID-19 restrictions. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was run to explore any effect of assessment type (online or in-person ADOS-2) and gender on total ADOS score. Qualitative feedback was collected from 46 patients and 8 clinicians involved in diagnostic decision-making after the online ADOS-2 assessment. RESULTS: A two-way ANOVA found no significant effect of assessment type or gender and no assessment type × gender interaction effect on total ADOS score. Qualitative feedback suggested that only 27% of patients would have preferred an in-person assessment. Nearly all clinicians reported gains from offering an online alternative. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to examine an online adaptation of ADOS-2 within an adult autism diagnostic service. It performed comparably to the in-person ADOS-2, making it a viable alternative when in-person assessments are not possible. As this clinic group has high rates of comorbid mental health difficulties, we encourage further work to determine whether online assessment approaches generalise to other services to increase options for patients and efficiencies for service delivery. Cambridge University Press 2023-03-06 /pmc/articles/PMC10044163/ /pubmed/36876642 http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.24 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
spellingShingle Paper
Blackmore, Charlotte E.
Nolan, Alexandra
Stoencheva, Vladimira
Greenwood, Natalie
Liu-Thwaites, Natasha
Maltezos, Stefanos
McAlonan, Grainne M.
Comparison of an online adaptation of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service
title Comparison of an online adaptation of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service
title_full Comparison of an online adaptation of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service
title_fullStr Comparison of an online adaptation of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service
title_full_unstemmed Comparison of an online adaptation of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service
title_short Comparison of an online adaptation of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service
title_sort comparison of an online adaptation of the autism diagnostic observation schedule-2 with its in-person version in an adult autism diagnostic service
topic Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10044163/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36876642
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.24
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