1. What is the primary aim of the current study regarding autistic students attending university?
The primary aim of the current study is to explore whether there is a change in autistic students' self-reported autistic traits during one year of attending university. The study focuses on autistic students participating in the university's integration program, which includes facilitated social interaction with a non-disabled peer-mentor and various program activities. The hypothesis is that a year of participating in the university's integration program would be followed by reports of lower levels of autistic traits.
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2. What is the age range of the participants in the study?
The age range of the participants in the study is 24.19 years with a standard deviation of 2.65 years. The participants are full-time undergraduate university students, with 11 females and 95 males. The majority of the participants are enrolled in exact sciences and engineering departments. The Autism group consists of 41 participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, while the High SA group has 24 participants with high social anxiety symptom levels, and the Low SA group has 30 participants with low social anxiety symptom levels. The inclusion criteria for the Autism group required a formal diagnosis of ASD based on DSM-5 or ICD-10 criteria from a licensed neurologist/psychiatrist/psychologist. All participants in the Autism group attended mainstream schools prior to university and met standard university requirements for their respective departments. They are quite independent and require no assistance in activities of daily living. Table 1 presents participant demographics, year-end Grade Point Average (GPAs), and psychiatric comorbidities. The Low SA symptoms group participants were asked to specify any previous psychiatric diagnoses.
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3. What is the primary focus of the university's integration support program?
The primary focus of the university's integration support program is to provide mentoring, tutoring, and structured social activities for autistic students. The program matches each autistic student with a peer-mentor, who resides with them in university dormitories for at least one academic year. The mentors provide daily support and encourage social interaction. Additionally, autistic students attend weekly half-hour personal sessions with a program coordinator for tutoring, which includes information and assistance regarding academic procedures. The program also organizes once-weekly two-hour social events for both autistic students and their mentors, as well as separate lectures on various topics. Overall, autistic students spend about 3 hours per week on program-related activities.
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4. What ethical standards were followed in the study?
The study adhered to the ethical standards set by the responsible committee on human experimentation, both institutional and national. It also followed the Helsinki Declaration (1975, revised in 2000). All participants provided signed informed consent to participate. The AQ, Beck depression inventory (BDI-II), LSAS, and STAI were self-completed, with a research assistant available for questions. The Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale II (Y-BOCS-II) was administered by a licensed clinical psychologist. The completion of instruments took place at the start of the 1st academic year (T1 = Time 1) and over about 1.5 hours. The AQ and STAI were also administered at the start of the 2nd academic year (T2 = Time 2).
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