Clinician Experience of Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Abstract: Social camouflaging is prevalent among patients with Autism spectrum disorder [ASD] and entails copying and/or masking behaviours, personality traits and adaptive functioning in order to adjust to environmental demands. The aim of this thesis was to explore clinicians’ experiences of working with adult patients with ASD who display social camouflaging. Research questions explored clinicians’ perceptions of frequency and nature of social camouflaging among males and females with ASD, as well as their competence and confidence in working with these patients. This was examined using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, consisting of a quantitative and a qualitative phase. Quantitative data was collected through a web-based questionnaire which was completed by clinicians [n=31] working in a specialised setting in Sweden. Four clinicians [n=4] also participated in qualitative semi-structured interviews. Paired samples t-tests indicated that females were observed to display social camouflaging more often. Clinicians’ competence and confidence did not differ to a significant degree between males and females when social camouflaging was displayed. Possible explanations for this were discussed through the main themes found in the qualitative thematic analysis. The themes consisted of clinicians’ understanding of social camouflaging, perceived obstacles when working with this group of patients and important prerequisites for clinicians in order to overcome these obstacles. The findings emphasized the need to broaden the view of ASD through future research, since it causes gaps of knowledge that clinicians seldom have the opportunities to fill. Furthermore, measures to enable support and resources for clinicians are needed to help this patient group.
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