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conferenceseries
.com
Volume 7
J Nurs Care, an open access journal
ISSN: 2167-1168
Nursing Global 2018
March 01-03, 2018
March 01-03, 2018 | London, UK
47
th
Global Nursing & Healthcare Conference
Attitudes toward autism spectrum disorders among students of allied health professions
Frida Simonstein
and
Michal Mashiach Eizenberg
Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Israel
T
he prevalence of autism has increased dramatically. The objective of this study was to explore attitude towards prenatal
diagnosis to detect autism prenatally and avoid having an affected child and to understand social acceptability of these
disorders among nursing students and students of allied health professions. In this study, college students of nursing and
health systems management answered a structured self-report questionnaire (n=305). The first part addressed the respondent's
personal data. The second part targeted the respondent's attitudes toward prenatal diagnosis of non-life-threatening disorders,
including autism spectrum disorders. We found that almost two thirds of the students responded that they would not proceed
with a pregnancy if the child were diagnosed with autism, and more than half thought that they would not continue with a
pregnancy if the fetus were diagnosed with Asperger's. Age, level of religiosity, and years of education were influential. This
study is limited in scope; however, the positive attitude of the students toward prenatal diagnosis to avoid having an affected
child might also reflect a negative view of autism spectrum disorders in future health care professionals. Further research of
attitudes and the social acceptability of autism spectrum disorders, particularly among health care professionals, is required.
Biography
Frida Simonstein received her PhD in Health Care Ethics and Law from the University of Manchester, UK. Her background is in Human Genetics from the Sackler
School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. Presently, she is a Senior Lecturer of Bioethics at the Department of Health Systems Management of the Yezreel Valley
College, in Israel. She has published more than 25 papers in reviewed journals and has presented in conferences around the world. In 2017, she was elected as
Board Member for the European Society for the Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare.
Frida Simonstein et al., J Nurs Care 2018, Volume 7
DOI: 10.4172/2167-1168-C1-064