“I Always Knew I Was Different”: Experiences of Receiving a Diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Adulthood—a Meta-Ethnographic Systematic Review

Hannah Gellini; Magda Marczak

doi:10.1007/s40489-023-00356-8

“I Always Knew I Was Different”: Experiences of Receiving a Diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Adulthood—a Meta-Ethnographic Systematic Review

Hannah Gellini
, Magda Marczak

University of Warwick

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

111 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A broadening of diagnostic criteria and increased awareness of autism has led to a large number of individuals whose difficulties remained undetected until adulthood. This systematic review aimed to synthesise empirical evidence of the experience of individuals who received their diagnosis of autism in adulthood. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. A meta-ethnographic approach was used to synthesise the findings. Analysis revealed two meta-themes: feeling “like an alien” and the “not guilty” verdict, each with three associated subthemes. The findings indicate the need for timely diagnosis and provision of post-diagnostic support to alleviate the mental health implications of not having a framework to understand one’s experiences and to support the process of adjustment to the diagnosis.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	620-639
Number of pages	20
Journal	Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume	11
Issue number	3
Early online date	21 Feb 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-023-00356-8
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2024

Bibliographical note

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Review
Adult
Autistic spectrum disorder
Experiences
Autism
Diagnosis
Meta-ethnography

Access to Document

10.1007/s40489-023-00356-8Licence: CC BY

Marczak2024VoRFinal published version, 1.18 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{02a8b9800f014e339b1124fa7baccd3e,

title = "“I Always Knew I Was Different”: Experiences of Receiving a Diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Adulthood—a Meta-Ethnographic Systematic Review",

abstract = "A broadening of diagnostic criteria and increased awareness of autism has led to a large number of individuals whose difficulties remained undetected until adulthood. This systematic review aimed to synthesise empirical evidence of the experience of individuals who received their diagnosis of autism in adulthood. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. A meta-ethnographic approach was used to synthesise the findings. Analysis revealed two meta-themes: feeling “like an alien” and the “not guilty” verdict, each with three associated subthemes. The findings indicate the need for timely diagnosis and provision of post-diagnostic support to alleviate the mental health implications of not having a framework to understand one{\textquoteright}s experiences and to support the process of adjustment to the diagnosis.",

keywords = "Review, Adult, Autistic spectrum disorder, Experiences, Autism, Diagnosis, Meta-ethnography",

author = "Hannah Gellini and Magda Marczak",

note = "This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.",

year = "2024",

month = sep,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1007/s40489-023-00356-8",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

pages = "620--639",

journal = "Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders",

issn = "2195-7177",

publisher = "Springer Verlag",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - “I Always Knew I Was Different”

T2 - Experiences of Receiving a Diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Adulthood—a Meta-Ethnographic Systematic Review

AU - Gellini, Hannah

AU - Marczak, Magda

N1 - This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

PY - 2024/9/1

Y1 - 2024/9/1

N2 - A broadening of diagnostic criteria and increased awareness of autism has led to a large number of individuals whose difficulties remained undetected until adulthood. This systematic review aimed to synthesise empirical evidence of the experience of individuals who received their diagnosis of autism in adulthood. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. A meta-ethnographic approach was used to synthesise the findings. Analysis revealed two meta-themes: feeling “like an alien” and the “not guilty” verdict, each with three associated subthemes. The findings indicate the need for timely diagnosis and provision of post-diagnostic support to alleviate the mental health implications of not having a framework to understand one’s experiences and to support the process of adjustment to the diagnosis.

AB - A broadening of diagnostic criteria and increased awareness of autism has led to a large number of individuals whose difficulties remained undetected until adulthood. This systematic review aimed to synthesise empirical evidence of the experience of individuals who received their diagnosis of autism in adulthood. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. A meta-ethnographic approach was used to synthesise the findings. Analysis revealed two meta-themes: feeling “like an alien” and the “not guilty” verdict, each with three associated subthemes. The findings indicate the need for timely diagnosis and provision of post-diagnostic support to alleviate the mental health implications of not having a framework to understand one’s experiences and to support the process of adjustment to the diagnosis.

KW - Review

KW - Adult

KW - Autistic spectrum disorder

KW - Experiences

KW - Autism

KW - Diagnosis

KW - Meta-ethnography

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85148446052

U2 - 10.1007/s40489-023-00356-8

DO - 10.1007/s40489-023-00356-8

M3 - Review article

SN - 2195-7177

VL - 11

SP - 620

EP - 639

JO - Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

JF - Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

IS - 3

ER -

“I Always Knew I Was Different”: Experiences of Receiving a Diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Adulthood—a Meta-Ethnographic Systematic Review

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this