Support services for autistic adults: what helps and why?

Background: Autism is a lifelong condition, with diagnoses increasingly occurring in adulthood. Understanding which support services are most helpful for autistic adults is crucial. This study takes a comprehensive approach by evaluating many support services: therapeutic interventions, pharmacological interventions and practical guidance.

Methods: This study explores the perceived helpfulness of support services (therapeutic, pharmacological and guidance) among 1315 autistic adults. Participants reported which support services were most helpful and in which areas they saw improvements: wellbeing, stress, and/or aspects of resilience related to social networks, emotion regulation, problem-solving, and future outlook.

Results: Findings highlight that therapeutic interventions involving individual sessions with psychologists or psychiatrists were consistently rated as most helpful. Guidance for daily life was both commonly used and perceived as helpful; other forms of guidance (social relationships, employment, leisure) were less helpful. Pharmacological interventions like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and stimulants had low usage rates but are regarded as helpful. Services that scored higher in helpfulness were linked to improvements in wellbeing, stress, emotional- regulation, problem solving, and future outlook, but not to improvements in social networks.

Conclusion: These results emphasize the value of individual therapeutic interventions and practical guidance. Guidance services could be better customized to meet autistic individuals’ needs. Involving autistic individuals in the development and implementation of support services will likely enhance service delivery and promote quality of life for autistic adults.