An educational intervention for health professionals in the assessment and management of Autism patients in Kazakhstan

Faculty-development competitive research grants program for 2023-2025

A gap between current and internationally accepted evidence-based care for Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients exists in Kazakhstan. Lack of uniformity in specialist beliefs and practices has a major impact on the health and quality of life of ASD patients and caregivers. An increased adoption of internationally recognised and evidence-based practice by ASD specialists could have a major impact on these outcomes.
The aim of this project is to facilitate the adoption of internationally accepted evidence-based ASD diagnostic and treatment practices that will help to close this gap. The primary objective is to design, develop, implement, and evaluate a theory- and evidence-based educational intervention for health professionals who are directly involved in the diagnosis and management of ASD patients in Kazakhstan. The Intervention Mapping (IM) framework for planning health promotion programs will inform the design of the educational intervention. The design process will be inclusive of the caregivers and/or family members of autistic patients as appropriate. This will contribute to ensuring that intervention is maximally culturally and socially valid.