Profile and predictors of unmet service needs among autistic university students

Abstract

Disabled students often need support to successfully participate in higher education. One subgroup of disabled students who have been participating in higher education more often recently are autistic students. Previous research showed that autistic students face challenges in higher education because of struggles with their cognitive functioning, transitions and sensory and social difficulties. These challenges can lead to unmet needs. The aim of the present study was to explore what the unmet needs from autistic students for specific services were and to identify factors which could predict unmet service needs. Previous research has shown that higher anxiety and depression symptoms could make it more likely an autistic student has unmet service needs, and that a higher level of social inclusion could make it more likely these students have fewer unmet service needs. The study used a sample of students at Dutch universities (N=134, aged 17-44). A survey was developed containing factors deemed relevant to the experiences of neurodivergent students, such as academic functioning, social relations and mental health. Descriptive statistics showed that autistic students had an average number of M=4.24 unmet service needs. Unmet service needs regarding educational and self-study related services received the highest number of responses. Negative binomial regressions showed that group membership (autistic vs other diagnoses vs no diagnoses) was not a significant factor, just like anxiety and depression symptoms. Social inclusion however did turn out to be significant for the autistic subsample. Policy makers should focus extra attention on those services that were most prevalently reported to have unmet service needs and foster a socially inclusive environment for their autistic students.