Public attitudes towards autism in Nigeria: the role of awareness, knowledge, and other explanatory factors of autism stigma

Abstract

The study aimed to examine attitudes, awareness, and knowledge levels of autism among theNigerian general public. It also assessed the theoretical explanatory drivers of autism stigmain Nigeria and create a theoretical model explaining the relationships between autism stigmaand the theoretical drivers. This study employed two distinct methods but sequential inapproach. The first phase involved a systematic scoping review (SSR) of autism stigmaresearch in Africa. Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria, and the articles reported autismstigma data from six different countries: Zimbabwe, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya Coast, Nigeria,and South Africa. Ten studies reported on the types of autism stigma identified among thevarious populations under study; public stigma, self-stigma, and secondary stigma (stigma byassociation) were consistent across articles. Seven studies reported on the degree and levelsof autism stigma and all the studies reported low levels of awareness and stigmatisingattitudes within the different study populations. All the articles included in the SSR highlightone or more factors that may influence autism stigma within the context of their studies.Across all studies, factors associated with autism stigma include culture, knowledge,awareness, geographical location, religion, experience, gender, age, beliefs, and education.The second phase was a pilot study carried out to test the data collection instrument andprocedure. The pilot study involved 48 Nigerians living in the UK, and generally, participantswere well satisfied with the administration process and questionnaire. The final phase wasthe cross-sectional quantitative data collection, involving a structured, questionnaire surveytool (n=312). Over half of the study participants had higher knowledge and awareness score(54.2%), yet 66.6% of the study participants had higher stigma scores. The analysis identifieda statistical relationship between age, geographical location, religion, religiosity, andknowledge and awareness. However, only knowledge and awareness were significantlycorrelated with autism stigma. Overall, the quantitative findings supported the SSR resultsbut also revealed some added theoretical insight. Based on the findings from this study, a newtheoretical model that explains the relationship between autism stigma, significant sociodemographicvariables, autism knowledge and awareness within the context of this study wasdeveloped. The study also discusses the methodological issues and limitations associated withdata collection in Nigeria.

Date of Award	18 Dec 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bedfordshire
Supervisor	Chris Papadopoulos (Supervisor) & Yannis Pappas (Second supervisor)