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Barriers to Mental Healthcare Access for Autistic Adults in South Africa

AANE maintains this listing of current research for the community’s information and possible participation. These research studies are external and are not ran by, nor affiliated with, AANE. To return to the main research study page that includes the full listing of research studies, study guidelines, and a link to submit a research study, click this link.

Date Posted

Research Study Description

This study aims to identify and document contextually relevant barriers to accessing mental healthcare services in South Africa as an autistic adult. The study will draw from local experiences and perspectives by inviting autistic adults from South Africa to participate in a 30 to 60 minute one on one online interview. The interview will take place via MS Teams, or another online platform as per request, and at a date and time that is acceptable to the participant. During the interview participants will be asked about their experiences when accessing mental healthcare as well as the perceived barriers that prevent or hinder them from successfully receiving the help they seek.
The results of this study will help to fill a wide knowledge gap in the literature pertaining to the accessibility of mental healthcare to autistic adults living in developing countries such as South Africa. Due to the unique socio-economic circumstances faced by locals of developing countries, it is likely that there exist a widely different range of barriers to accessing mental healthcare than which can be seen in fully developed countries. Despite this the majority of research on mental healthcare accessibility for autistic adults has been conducted in fully developed countries while little to no research has been done on the contextually relevant barriers to mental healthcare access for autistic adults living in developing countries. This study may therefore serve to open the discussion about contextually relevant barriers to mental healthcare access for autistic adults and inform future efforts to improve the accessibility of mental healthcare services
Participant criteria include having an autism diagnosis, being between the ages of 18 and 65, and being a citizen living in South Africa. Participants will be expected to attend an online interview of 30 to 60 minutes and will be reimbursed with 1Gb of cellular data. Interested individuals are to please contact the researcher of this study, Keegan Cremer, at 072 175 6979 or [email protected] to set up an interview. This study is being completed as part of the Master of Arts Psychology program and has been approved by the Health Research Ethics Committee. All efforts will be taken to ensure that this study stays within the Stellenbosch University Health Research Ethics Guidelines.

Name of Organization:
Stellenbosch University

For questions, please email:
[email protected]

Study Link: