Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Perspectives of Caring for Patients with Disorders of Autism

Autism was initially identified as a discrete entity in 1943. This now recognized group of disorders is often identified in children, but is a lifelong disorder requiring specialized assessment, planning, and care for patients. Nurses practicing in the Saudi Arabian healthcare system are often the first healthcare providers to encounter autism in the clinical setting. To highlight the perspective of practicing mental health nurses in Saudi Arabia regarding their experiences in caring for clients who have this disorder. A qualitative inquiry, made up of two focus groups of five members each, composed of mental health graduate students with experience in the field, facilitated a detailed investigation of nurses’ experiences in providing care for clients with these aspects of autism in clinical settings. Four principal themes and subthemes emerged from the data, which informed researchers about mental health nurses’ experiences with autism: (1) knowledge of autism; (2) previous experience in caring for those with autism; (3) practical applications used; and (4) challenges felt by mental health nurses. The Saudi nursing community appears to be looking for better training in identifying and caring for autistic patients. There also appears to be a desire to open channels of communication between primary and tertiary care facilities to improve client access.