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Sociodemographic Disparities in Intervention Service Utilization in Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

This study investigates whether sociodemographic factors are associated with utilization of intervention services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) enrolled in the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment Study. Maternal ethnicity, insurance status, and education for 696 families of children with ASD were available. Children of Black mothers entered intervention earlier compared to White mothers (2 vs. 2.6 years; p = 0.001). Having public insurance was associated with receiving <15 h/week of individual services, while having a Bachelor degree was associated with receiving <15 h/week of classroom-based services. These differences suggest that SES may be a factor in utilization of services. Efforts should be made to ensure that interventions offered are culturally and linguistically accessible.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment study participants and staff for their dedication and effort.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (1R01-ES015359; 2R01-ES015359; 3R01-ES015359; 5R01-ES015359; 1P30-ES023513; 2P01- ES011269), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (R-833292; R-829388), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U54-HD079125), National Institutes of Health (UL1-TR000002), and the University of California Davis MIND (Medical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute.

Author Contributions

CTN conceived of the study, participated in the design and interpretation of the data and drafted the manuscript; PK performed the statistical analysis and helped draft and review the manuscript; RH conceived of the study, participated in the design and coordination and reviewed the manuscript; IH-P conceived of the study, participated in the design and coordination and reviewed the manuscript; KA conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, assisted in interpretation of results, and helped draft and review the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Cathina T. Nguyen

    Present address: School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95817, USA

    Cathina T. Nguyen, Paula Krakowiak & Irva Hertz-Picciotto

  2. Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Robin Hansen & Kathleen Angkustsiri

  3. MIND Institute, University of California Davis, 2825 50th Street, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Paula Krakowiak, Robin Hansen, Irva Hertz-Picciotto & Kathleen Angkustsiri

Authors
  1. Cathina T. Nguyen
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  2. Paula Krakowiak
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  3. Robin Hansen
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  4. Irva Hertz-Picciotto
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  5. Kathleen Angkustsiri
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathleen Angkustsiri.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained for all individual participants included in the CHARGE study.

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Nguyen, C.T., Krakowiak, P., Hansen, R. et al. Sociodemographic Disparities in Intervention Service Utilization in Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 3729–3738 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2913-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2913-3

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