الفهرس 
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Abstract
Summary
Autism is defined as a spectrum of neurodevelopmental
disorders, present from very early time, which upsets the
development of social behavior and communication. The
disorder persists throughout life and co-occurring
neurological or psychological difficulties are frequent.
Regardless of advances in our understanding of symptoms,
the causes stay generally unspecified and the most valuable
interventions remain vague. In spite of several interventions
and services now in use relatively, few have been tested
scientifically (Mills&Marchant, 2011).
Growing evidence on the effectiveness of early
intervention programs on outcomes highlights the need for
early identification of individuals with autism spectrum
disorder (ASD). Therapeutic approaches may support the
individual to make use of their developmental potentials and
ensure participation in social life. Moreover, parents have a
better insight into their child’s needs, can understand their
behaviors and may create an ASD friendly environment.
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Despite the advantages of an early diagnosis, ASD often
remains undetected and thus untreated (Sappok et al. 2015).
So, to provide reinforcement to parents with an
autistic child, a multi-disciplinary team is needed because of
the complexity of the features of autism. A multi-disciplinary
team should consist of medical doctors, nurse practitioners,
nurses, psychologists, speech therapists, occupational
therapists, physical therapists, and social workers. Pediatric
nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners can play an
influential role in helping with developmental assessment,
autism screening, and probably the formal diagnosis of
children with autism spectrum disorder (Inglese, 2009) &
(Lendenmann, 2010).
The aim of the Study:
The aim of this study was to assess factors that influence
parents toward detection of autism spectrum disorder.
Research question:
This study is based on answering the following question:
- What are the factors that influence parents toward
detection of autism spectrum disorder?
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Research settings:
This study was conducted in autism outpatient clinic at
El–Abbasia Mental Hospital.
Subjects of the study:
The whole sample was formed of 100 parents having a
child with autism spectrum disorder recruited over a period
of 6 months.
Tools of data collection:
Data were collected using the following tools:
1-Interviewing Questionnaire of Socio-demographic data:
It was constructed by (Barrie, 2010) and adapted by
the investigator after reviewing the literature in this field;
the investigator edited the sheets of the tool. This section
included brief personal profile questions about parents and
their children as sex, age, marital status, relation to the child,
child’s date of birth, child sex, comorbid with other
disorders, other medical conditions, siblings diagnosed with
ASD and number of siblings.
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2- Interview questionnaire about factors that influence
parents toward detection of autism spectrum
disorder.
It was constructed by (Barrie, 2010) and adapted by
the researcher after reviewing the literature in this field.
Maternal education, household income, initial concerns,
age at diagnosis and general self-efficacy.
Pilot study:
The pilot study was conducted on ten parents having
children with autism spectrum disorder. They represent 10%
of the total sample. Those caregivers were excluded from the
actual study sample.
The main findings of this study revealed that:
1 - An analysis of socio-demographic characteristics showed
the studied caregivers sample were females. Regarding
the age of caregiver, it is found that 44% of the subjects
were between 18 to less than 34, while 46% were
between 34 to less than 45 years and 10% were 45 years
and more .On the other hand, 91% of the subjects were
married, while 6% were divorced and 3% were
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widowed. In most families, the caregiver was the
mother (98%). And 2% were grandmothers.
2- It is also found that 41% of the studied sample were
graduated from secondary school, while 28% were
graduated from university, 12% were illiterate, 15%
read and write and 4% postgraduate. Adding to that
more than half (57%) of the participants reported that
their household income was enough, while 43% had not
enough household income. Concerning self-efficacy
level, nearly two thirds (65%) of the subjects had high
self-efficacy level, while 29% had moderate selfefficacy level and 6% had low self-efficacy.
3- An analysis of initial concerns and age at the diagnosis, it
showed that more than half (54%) of the participants
were early concerned, while 46% of the participants
were late concerned. Furthermore, more than half (56)
of the participants had a late diagnosis, while 44% of
the participants had early diagnosis.
4- Regarding the relationship between first concern and
detection of autism spectrum disorder, the current study
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illustrated that, a significant positive correlation
between detection of ASD and first concern. On the
other hand, there was a negative correlation between
level of education and detection of ASD