The Neurodiversity Attitudes Questionnaire: Development and Initial Validation.
Rachel K Schuck, Sunghee Choi, Kaitlynn Mp Baiden and 2 others
PMID 38679940WHAT IT FOUND
A new questionnaire appears to capture helping professionals’ attitudes toward neurodiversity, tracking stigma, knowledge, and willingness to engage.
It may help identify training needs, but it is not yet validated for measuring training impact.
Key findings
01The NDAQ was tested with 351 adults, including 259 undergraduates and 92 online participants.
02A five-factor structure emerged: Diversity & Inclusion, Fitting In, Cross-Neurotype Interactions, Medical Model, and Listening & Reflecting.
03NDAQ scores correlated with stigma and knowledge measures, with higher NDAQ scores linked to less stigma and more knowledge.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was preliminary and used a convenience sample. Many participants were undergraduate students planning to enter helping professions, not a broad group of licensed clinicians. The sample was mostly female and had little representation of Black individuals. Most participants reported only slight familiarity with neurodiversity. The factor structure and reliability were not yet stable enough for firm conclusions. The NDAQ has not been validated for use as a pre-post outcome measure. Some items may be confusing or poorly understood by people unfamiliar with neurodiversity terms.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the NDAQ to conclude that a training programme worked. The paper states that the questionnaire has not yet been validated for pre-post measurement, and the results are preliminary.