Level of Awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorder among Members of Saudi Society: An Exploratory Study

The study aimed at identifying the level of awareness of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among Saudi society members. The author adopted the analytical descriptive approach and prepared a scale for measuring the level of ASD awareness. The sample consisted of 888 Saudis comprising 174 males and 714 females, aged 18 to 58 years old. Results showed that a total of 55.2% of the participants has no information about ASD and mass media represents the main source of information for 56.8% of them. There are no statistically significant differences in ASD awareness levels among participants from different districts. There are statistically significant differences in the level of ASD awareness between male and female participants, favoring females, and between young and old participants, favoring young. The highest ASD awareness level was among Ph.D. holders, and the lowest was among holders of moderate and lower qualifications. In regard of profession, the highest ASD awareness level was among practitioners of Special Education and the lowest was among the unemployed.