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. 2025 Feb;55(2):605-619.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-06229-7. Epub 2024 Jan 17.

Barriers to Healthcare for Latinx Autistic Children and Adolescents

Luke P Grosvenor #  1 , Ryan J Cohen #  1   2 , Nancy P Gordon  1 , Maria L Massolo  1 , Hilda J Cerros  1 , Cathleen K Yoshida  1 , Jennifer L Ames  1 , Lisa A Croen  3
Affiliations

Barriers to Healthcare for Latinx Autistic Children and Adolescents

Luke P Grosvenor et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: To understand the ways in which autistic Latinx children experience disparities in diagnosis, healthcare, and receipt of specialty services.

Methods: 417 individuals who identified as Latinx caregivers of autistic children who were members of the same integrated healthcare system in Northern California were surveyed. Responses were analyzed using the child's insurance coverage (Government or Commercial) and caregiver's primary language (Spanish or English).

Results: Compared to the commercially-insured, government-insured participants accessed several services at a higher rate and were less likely to cite the high cost of co-pays as a barrier.

Conclusion: There were no significant differences in service access by language status, but Spanish speakers were more likely to cite health literacy as a barrier to receiving care.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Developmental Disabilities; Healthcare Disparities; Latino Children; Service Utilization.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing Interests: All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. Ethics Approval: All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All participants provided written informed consent prior to the interview. All study procedures were approved by the Kaiser Permanente Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
ASD service use by type of insurance. *indicates significance (p < 0.05)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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