Dawn Adams

Autistic people experience high rates of mental health conditions and barriers to accessing supports. Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) may be one way to improve access, but their applicability is unclear. We reviewed DMHIs that focus on mental health outcomes in autistic people, examining their scope, adaptation, community involvement and evidence of effectiveness.Five databases were searched in 08/2024 and 04/2026. Eligible studies evaluated a DMHI and reported pre-post mental health outcomes in autistic people. Findings were synthesised narratively using SWiM guidelines. Thirty-three studies reported on 1,258 autistic participants across fifteen studies were randomised controlled trials and 17 uncontrolled designs. Although anxiety was the primary focus of DMHIs, effects of DMHIs on depression, specific phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and trauma were also explored. Comparative findings for anxiety were mixed, and the predominantly small and uncontrolled evidence base could not establish efficacy. Most interventions were CBT-based, community involvement in study or DMHI design was very limited. DMHIs could be a promising option to support the mental health of autistic people, but research is in preliminary stages. Future studies should focus on co-producing DMHIs and embedding these into adequately powered controlled studies that are inclusive for a broader range of participants.

Research into school non-attendance is expanding, yet the perspectives of young people, particularly neurodivergent students, remain underrepresented. Card-sorting tasks offer a promising, accessible method for capturing these perspectives. The Student Stress Investigation (SSI) uses a structured card-sort approach to facilitate young people’s self-report of school-related stressors.This study used the SSI to explore school-based stressors among 31 children and adolescents (mean age = 12.16 years) diagnosed with both autism and ADHD (AuDHD). On average, they missed 3.46 days of school per month. Participants first categorised stressors as relevant or irrelevant, then ranked relevant items from smallest to largest stressors.The most frequently identified major stressors were classroom environments that were too loud or quiet (35.5%), uninteresting tasks (32.2%), unpredictability (29.0%), school days being too long (29.0%), and being rushed (29.0%). Qualitative responses highlighted variability in how stressors were experienced. For example, some students reported that the classroom being too loud or quiet was a sensory-related stressor, while others reported it as having an impact on attention or executive functioning.These findings provide direct insight into the everyday school experiences contributing to stress and non-attendance among AuDHD students. The results underscore the value of self-report tools and highlight the need for targeted, individualised, and proactive adjustments to reduce stress that may in turn support an increased capacity to consider a return to school.

Twice as many autistic people as non-autistic people are diagnosed with mental health conditions. However, there are significantly elevated unmet mental healthcare needs and an expanding need-treatment gap. This umbrella review synthesises and appraises reviews relating to autistic people’s access to, and experience with, mental health services. Searches were undertaken in nine databases in 12/22 and 03/24 (PROSPERO CRD42023395760). Reviews were included if they reported on qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods studies of autistic people’s access to or experiences with mental health services. Two reviewers independently screened 7,622 titles/abstracts and 102 full texts. The 17 included reviews focused on four areas: barriers and facilitators to accessing mental health services ( k = 10), autism training, knowledge, and experience of mental health practitioners ( k = 4), autistic people’s access to, and predictors of access to, mental health services ( k = 5), autistic people’s experience with technology and telehealth in mental health services ( k = 4). Autistic people experience a broad range of challenges when accessing mental healthcare services. Strategies to support access are urgently required to address need-treatment gaps and improve mental health outcomes for autistic people.

Purpose: Sexual orientation is an important aspect of diversity in the Autistic population, yet how and how often it is reported in autism research remains unclear. Methods: This brief report examined the reporting of sexual orientation minority status in Australian autism research published 2023-25. A broader systematic mapping review identified 467 studies reporting data on Australian Autistic people. Of these, only seven (1.5%) reported Autistic people’s sexual orientation minority status. These studies were reviewed in relation to study scope, measurement and reporting practices, and analytic inclusion of sexual orientation. Results: All seven studies related to mental health and/or quality of life, leaving other life domains underexplored. Sexual orientation was reported inconsistently and rarely integrated meaningfully into analysis. Although all studies reported participatory approaches with Autistic people, only one explicitly reported LGBTQIA+ community involvement. Conclusion: Sexual orientation remains underreported and underanalysed in autism research. Recommendations for more transparent, inclusive, and analytically meaningful research practices are provided.

Despite a growing body of autism research, significant gaps remain regarding whose experiences are reported, necessitating a comprehensive assessment of representation across the evidence base. This systematic mapping review examined demographic reporting and representation of autistic participants in Australian autism research published between 2023 and 2025. Searches across 46 academic databases identified 517 Australian autism empirical research articles, of which 467 involved human participants and 272 included demographic data for autistic participants. Demographic reporting of included articles was examined using the PROGRESS-Plus framework alongside priority and intersectional groups identified in Australia's National Autism Strategy. Gender/sex and age were the most frequently reported characteristics, appearing in 89.3% and 74.6% of articles, respectively. In contrast, reporting for First Nations identity, cultural background, socioeconomic status, intellectual disability, communication profiles, sexual orientation+ status, and very high support needs were considerably less common. Eligibility criteria also shaped representation, with many studies requiring a formal autism diagnosis and some excluding participants based on English proficiency, English literacy, intellectual disability, communication profile, or non-speaking status. These findings indicate that many autistic participants remain demographically invisible in autism research, limiting the understanding of whose experiences underpin the evidence base. More consistent demographic reporting, clearer justification of exclusion criteria, and more accessible recruitment and participation methods are needed to support equity, transparency, and policy relevance in autism research. While this study focused on the Australian context, the findings may reflect broader challenges in demographic representation and reporting within autism research internationally.

Autistic students are increasingly represented in mainstream classrooms, yet for many, school remains a source of stress and misunderstanding. While existing research has largely focused on adverse outcomes for autistic students, less attention has been given to identifying indicators of well-being and understanding how it is experienced in everyday school settings. This study addresses this gap by centring autistic students’ perspectives through a flexible, multi‑modal qualitative design. Twelve autistic primary and secondary students shared their experiences through interviews, drawings, written responses, and photovoice methods tailored to their communication preferences and strengths. Data were analysed using inductive content and reflexive thematic analysis. Students described diverse indicators of well‑being across emotional, social, sensory‑physical, and academic domains. High well‑being was often reflected in engagement in learning, access to effective self‑regulation strategies, and expressions of joy, while low well‑being often led to withdrawal, reduced communication, tense posture, and expressions of sadness. Thematic analysis of student experiences highlighted how autistic student well‑being is frequently misunderstood or overlooked. Overall, autistic student well‑being emerged as relational, context‑dependent, and individually patterned, drawing attention to the ways it may be variably expressed, recognised, and responded to in school settings.

There is a significant gap in the recognition and appropriate support of autistic people within the criminal justice system, highlighting the need for autism-specific training for police officers. The present study aimed to assess baseline levels of autism knowledge and self-esteem of specialist investigators in Australia, explore whether this knowledge can be enhanced, and examine whether tailored autism awareness training leads to an increase in autism-supportive policing practices. A total of 39 Australian investigators took part in a two-phase training program. Of these, 39 completed a pre-training questionnaire, 18 completed a post-training questionnaire and 3 took part in a follow-up interview. The use of a specifically tailored autism training program was effective in increasing investigators’ knowledge about autism, their self-esteem and their ability to adapt their behaviours to better support autistic offenders. This enabled investigators to consider their interactions with autistic offenders in order to reduce the likelihood of autistic offenders reoffending. Such training could be adapted and delivered to other specialist police areas and frontline emergency personnel who frequently interact with autistic people.

Research reporting the perspectives of young autistic people on their experiences of school non-attendance remains limited, especially from those who have experienced successful re-engagement with schooling. Studies that include the perspectives of autistic young people who have had a range of experiences with school attendance are essential to further develop understanding. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of autistic young people on factors that influence school attendance and non-attendance. Through flexible research design, two focus groups were held with nine autistic high school students (mean age = 14.9 years) at a specialist assistance school in Australia. Thematic analysis was used to analyse transcripts.Results indicate three themes describing environmental influences on school attendance for autistic young people: having agency at school, stress associated with other people’s confusing behaviour, and emotional wellbeing related to feeling understood by staff. Young people compared their past experiences of school non-attendance at mainstream schools with consistent school attendance in a flexible education setting. This comparison revealed the depth of influence of environmental factors on their emotional wellbeing and capacity to attend school.Autistic young people in this study were uniquely positioned to identify key factors influencing their school attendance and non-attendance. Findings highlight the urgent need to foster environments that enable student agency and relational understanding, supporting the emotional wellbeing and school attendance of autistic young people.

Autistic students experience disproportionately high levels of distress and unmet support needs at school, yet there is limited school‑based evidence to guide how their well‑being is recognised in everyday educational contexts. Most existing research has focused on home, community, or clinical settings, leaving a gap in understanding how autistic students communicate both high and low well‑being during the school day. This study addresses this gap by increasing understanding of school‑based indicators of autistic student well‑being across emotional, social, physical, academic, and future‑focused domains. Using a two‑phase, multi-informant design, Phase 1 collected qualitative data from caregivers, educators, and school‑based therapists (n = 41) to identify externally observable indicators of high and low well‑being. Phase 2 invited a separate sample (n = 36) to evaluate the perceived reliability of the most frequently identified indicators. Inductive content analysis identified 94 high and 99 low well‑being indicators. Three key findings emerged. First, indicators varied substantially in how they were expressed across students, highlighting the importance of interpreting change relative to individual baselines rather than normative expectations. Second, many indicators reflected specific dimensions of well‑being and did not function as global markers across contexts. Third, indicators most frequently reported were not always those judged to be most reliable indicators of autistic students’ well-being, underscoring the limitations of frequency‑based approaches. Together, these findings demonstrate that autistic student well‑being at school is best understood as multidimensional, context‑dependent, and individually patterned. By clarifying how well‑being indicators are identified and interpreted in school settings, this study provides an important foundation for future practice‑focused tools, professional learning, and research aimed at more responsive and inclusive support for autistic students.

BackgroundAutistic adults experience high rates of depression, yet the DSM-5-TR criteria may not fully represent their experiences. Differences in alexithymia, interoception, and sensory processing may influence how autistic adults experience and describe depression. This study examines whether autistic adults' depressive experiences align with or differ from DSM-5-TR criteria to inform diagnostic understanding.MethodsWe used an exploratory qualitative design. A total of 109 autistic adults and 13 caregivers who reported on an autistic adult they support participated. Participants described depressive experiences relative to their usual autistic baseline through an online survey (n = 112) or a semi-structured interview (n = 10). Researchers applied direct content analysis to identify DSM-5-TR-aligned symptoms and used inductive analysis to identify additional experiences.Results Participants met DSM-5-TR depression criteria, but autism-related differences may influence symptom expression. Depressed mood presented as emotional emptiness or numbness. Anhedonia involves a loss of enjoyment in deep or focused interests, a key source of emotional regulation. Fatigue felt like physical heaviness and appetite changes included restrictive eating patterns. Task initiation, time management, and hyperfocus difficulties occurred but did not appear in DSM-5-TR. Participants described "Depression attacks"—sudden, overwhelming suicidal ideation with a loss of control. Additionally, depression may influence autistic characteristics, including fluctuations in sensory sensitivities and repetitive behaviours during depressive episodes. Autistic adults reported difficulties with emotional regulation, meltdowns and shutdowns, suggesting depressive episodes exacerbate challenges in emotional and sensory modulation.ConclusionAutistic adults often meet DSM-5-TR depression criteria, but their symptom expression may differ, which can complicate diagnosis. Autism may influence how autistic adults experience depression, while depression may influence autistic characteristics. Standard diagnostic frameworks often fail to account for these bidirectional effects, increasing the risk of inaccurate diagnosis. Recognising these interactions can improve diagnostic accuracy and guide the development of autism-relevant assessment tools.