Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38583097›Full record

ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2025

Autism Knowledge Assessments: A Closer Examination of Validity by Autism Experts.

Camilla M McMahon, Maryellen Brunson McClain, Savannah Wells, Sophia Thompson, Jeffrey D Shahidullah

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Camilla M McMahonDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Miami University, 1601 University Blvd., Hamilton, OH, 45011, USA. mcmahocm@miamioh.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4301-6291
Maryellen Brunson McClainDepartment of Counseling and Educational Psychology, Indiana University Bloomington, 201 N. Rose Avenue, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
Savannah WellsDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Miami University, 1601 University Blvd., Hamilton, OH, 45011, USA.
Sophia ThompsonDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Miami University, 1601 University Blvd., Hamilton, OH, 45011, USA.
Jeffrey D ShahidullahDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, 1601 Trinity Blvd, Austin, TX, 76018, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe goal of the current study was to conduct a substantive validity review of four autism knowledge assessments with prior psychometric support (Gillespie-Lynch in J Autism and Dev Disord 45(8):2553-2566, 2015; Harrison in J Autism and Dev Disord 47(10):3281-3295, 2017; McClain in J Autism and Dev Disord 50(3):998-1006, 2020; McMahon in Res Autism Spectr Disord 71:101499, 2020). 69 autism experts who served on the editorial board of one or more peer-reviewed autism journals evaluated the accuracy and ambiguity of autism knowledge questions. 34% of the questions were flagged as "potentially problematic" for accuracy, and 17% of the questions were flagged as "potentially problematic" for ambiguity. Autism expert feedback revealed three themes across ambiguous questions: (1) an oversimplification of mixed or still-evolving research literature, (2) an insufficient recognition of the heterogeneity of the autism spectrum, and (3) a lack of clarity in the question/answer prompt. Substantive validity of future autism knowledge assessments should be carefully evaluated via feedback from a diverse group of autism experts and/or potential respondents. Potentially problematic questions can be removed or modified to improve the validity of autism knowledge assessments.

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderAutistic DisorderHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeFemaleHumansMalePsychometricsReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and QuestionnairesAccuracyAmbiguityAutism expertsAutism knowledgeHeterogeneity of the autism spectrumSubstantive validity

Identifiers

PMID38583097
PMCPMC12021937

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.