Supporting Autistic Adults in Postsecondary Settings: A Systematic Review of Peer Mentorship Programs

Abstract

Background: The number of autistic individuals attending college or university is increasing, yet graduation rates are low as postsecondary environments often fail to support autistic students' individual needs. Peer mentorship programs are emerging as a promising approach for providing individualized, one-on-one support to meet this service gap for autistic postsecondary students. However, no literature has systematically described these programs.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review that described existing peer mentorship programs for autistic students in postsecondary education as well as their effectiveness.

Results: Our search of five databases found nine unique programs that were evaluated in 11 peer-reviewed articles. Programs reported positive outcomes in various domains, which included social skills, academic performance, and sense of belonging. The evidence for these programs was primarily qualitative, sample sizes were small, and there was considerable heterogeneity in the format, provision, and goals of these programs, as well as the evaluation methods used.

Conclusions: Overall, the state of the research related to the efficacy of peer mentorship programs for autistic students remains in its infancy, and further research is needed to quantify effectiveness and enable program comparisons.

Lay summary: Why was this review done?: The number of autistic individuals attending college or university is increasing, yet graduation rates are low as most colleges and universities do not have the neccessary accommodations to support this population. Several peer mentorship programs now exist to provide individualized, one-on-one support for autistic students at college or university.What was the purpose of the review?: While several programs exist, it is unknown how effective these programs are in improving the academic experience for autistic students.What did the researchers do?: We systematically reviewed research describing existing peer mentorship programs for autistic university/college students and their effectiveness. Our search of five databases revealed nine unique programs that were evaluated in 11 peer-reviewed articles.What were the results of the review?: Most peer mentorship programs reported positive outcomes in various areas, including social skills, academic performance, and a sense of belonging. However, many of the studies were quite different in their approach and how they evaluated success, thus making it challenging to compare the programs with one another.What do these findings add to what was already known?: The findings from our systematic review highlight that only a few studies related to peer mentorship programs exist. We need more research to quantify the effectiveness of peer mentoring programs for autistic college/university students.What are potential weaknesses of this review?: There were evident inconsistencies between evaluation methods and types of measurement across studies, and studies often had a small number of participants, which limited our ability to make conclusions about the impact of such programs.How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: This article provides a summary of the kinds of supports available to autistic adults within postsecondary settings, which may help autistic adults explore options for their own education. Advancing research in this area may improve the college/university experience for autistic adults in the future.

Keywords: adults; autism; college; peer mentorship programs; university.

FIG. 1.

PRISMA flow diagram for Autism Mentorship Programs. PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. From Moher et al. For more information, visit www.prisma-statement.org