Building education for affirming care of neurodivergent patients (BEACON)
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Compared to allistic (nonautistic) individuals, autistic patients have difficulty achieving equitable engagement in the health management occupation, resulting in poor health, well-being, and service-use outcomes due to a lack of neurodiversity-affirming care within U.S. health care systems. Patient-level access barriers include physiological stress and anxiety pathway differences, reduced communication and regulation abilities when stressed, previous health care traumas, and concerns about providers’ perceptions. System-level factors include limited autism specific knowledge among health care providers, inflexibility among providers and practice policies and procedures, dysregulating environments, and a perpetuation of ableism. Aiming to improve access to and engagement in affirming health care, the Building Education for Affirming Care of Neurodivergent patients (BEACON) Comprehensive Clinic Guide (CCG) pilot program addresses inadequate knowledge of and access to education on autism within primary care by using highly relevant, role-specific, tiered, and multimodal educational guides. The BEACON program is unique in tackling system-level barriers, facilitating and measuring postintervention behavior change, and highlighting occupational therapy practitioners’ roles beyond traditional occupational therapy settings.
The BEACON program’s pilot test will enroll three privately owned primary care practices, and their staff will engage in guides specific to their roles within the practice. The pilot mixed-methods evaluation design includes pre- and postintervention surveys and a postintervention, formative focus group. Health care providers will also complete standardized efficacy scales before and after the course. These BEACON CCG learners will demonstrate improved knowledge of autism, better understanding of how to deliver affirming care, and increased desire to make behavior changes toward affirming care. By actualizing behavior, policy, procedure, and environmental modifications, the pilot clinics will improve access to affirming care for their autistic patients 3 months postcourse.
Description
2026