Überdurchschnittlich ausgebildete Arbeitslose – Bildung, Beschäftigungsverhältnisse und Komorbiditäten bei Erwachsenen mit hochfunktionalem Autismus in Deutschland

Zusammenfassung

Ziel: Prospektive Erfassung psychosozialer Parameter und komorbider Erkrankungen bei Erwachsenen mit hochfunktionalen Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen (ASS).

Methode: 255 Personen mit ASS oder deutlichen autistischen Zügen (162 m, 93 w) wurden untersucht.

Ergebnisse: Die Patienten zeigten trotz guter Bildungserfolge (50 % allgemeine Hochschulreife, 39 % abgeschlossenes Hochschulstudium), eine niedrige Beschäftigungsrate (58 % nicht berufstätig) und eine hohe Komorbidität (57 % unipolare Depressionen).

Diskussion: Eine Verbesserung der (sozial-)psychiatrischen Versorgung von Erwachsenen mit ASS ist notwendig.

Abstract

Background: Based on clinical experience there is a discrepancy between the educational records and vocational performance in patients with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Method: In order to assess psychosocial and vocational specificities of adult ASD patients we analyzed the demographic and hospital data of consecutively diagnosed patients employing descriptive statistics.

Results: We were able to include 255 patients into our sample who were consecutively diagnosed between October 2009 and October 2011. The gender ratio was 162:93 in favor of male patients. The educational records of our patient sample was comparatively good [50 % highest level of German schooling system (allgemeine Hochschulreife), 39 % university degree], however, the vocational records were poor with 58 % of our patients being unemployed. The psychiatric comorbidity was high, 57 % of the patients suffered from depression.

Conclusion: There is a high need for special support programs for adult high functioning ASD patients focusing on adaptive vocational skills to avoid unemployment and secondary psychiatric problems.

Schlüsselwörter

Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen - Erwachsene - psychosoziales Funktionsniveau - Komorbidität - Arbeitslosigkeit

Keywords

autism-spectrum-disorder - adults - psychosocial functioning - comorbidity - unemployment

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