The reviewed evidence suggests health professionals’ limited knowledge and self-efficacy in working with autistic people is a challenge to the provision of healthcare for autistic individuals.

The gap

Consensus across the literature

Supporting evidence — 3 representative gaps

• Advances in supporting development in autistic children and youth (2026) · doi

  This review highlights several important directions for future research to improve understanding and support for autistic children and adolescents. First, there is a need for more longitudinal studies that follow autistic individuals into adulthood, particularly those from underrepresented groups, including racialized communities, gender diverse populations, and individuals with higher support needs. Expanding the inclusivity of study populations is essential to producing more generalizable and equitable findings. Larger datasets are needed to include and analyze all potential predictors of wellbeing, allowing for precision outputs that can support individualized anticipatory guidance. Second, future research must move beyond binary or deficit based outcome measures to better reflect holistic understandings of autistic development that include strengths. This includes assessing wellbeing, identity formation, relationships and social connection, and participation in meaningful life activities. Studies that consider environmental influences, such as inclusive education, family acceptance, and access to affirming services, are needed to provide a more complete picture of the factors that support positive developmental outcomes. A key priority of advancing this field requires embedding autistic co-design as a standard research practice. This approach involves autistic people as active partners in shaping research questions, methods, and outputs and is essential to producing meaningful, applicable knowledge. Studies show that autistic co-design enriches research outcomes 16 doi: 10.1136/bmj‑2025‑086562 | BMJ 2026;393:e086562 | the bmj P r o t e c t e d b y c o p y r i g h t , i l i n c u d n g f o r u s e s r e l a t e d t o t e x t a n d d a t a m n n g i i , A I t r a i n n g i , a n d s i m i l a r t e c h n o o g i e s . l B M J : f i r s t p u b l i s h e d a s 1 0 1 1 3 6 b m . / j - 2 0 2 5 - 0 8 6 5 6 2 o n 1 0 J u n e 2 0 2 6 . l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p s : / / w w w b m . j . c o m / o n 1 1 J u n e 2 0 2 6 b y g u e s t . by incorporating the lived experience and unique insights of autistic individuals, which may reveal challenges that non-autistic researchers alone may not recognize.100 Importantly, co-design processes need to account for additional time investment and the need for clear communication, as well as autistic individuals’ sensory and communication preferences.64  101 While more resource-intensive, these efforts result in richer, more impactful research. review underscores

  Keywords: autistic support individuals need design review future populations essential producing needed include wellbeing outputs meaningful
• Self-esteem moderates the impact of perceived social support on the life satisfaction of adults with autism spectrum disorder (2022) · doi

  Background and aims: Although social resources and self-esteem are well-known predictors of subjective well-being in the general population, the relations among these factors have not yet been investigated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

  Keywords: well background aims social resources self esteem known predictors subjective general population relations among factors
• A Systematic Review of Healthcare Professionals’ Knowledge, Self-Efficacy and Attitudes Towards Working with Autistic People (2021) · doi

  The reviewed evidence suggests health professionals’ limited knowledge and self-efficacy in working with autistic people is a challenge to the provision of healthcare for autistic individuals.

  Keywords: autistic reviewed evidence suggests health professionals limited knowledge self efficacy working people challenge provision healthcare