[Recognition of developmental disorders and the information sources among the Japanese adult population]

Objectives　This study aimed to examine methods of providing information to improve the recognition of people with developmental disorders by comparing recognition of developmental disorders among education and health care professionals within the general public.Methods　A cross-sectional internet-based survey was conducted in January 2016. The subjects were Japanese adults aged between 20 and 69 years. Of all the respondents, 418 were males and 424 were females. The questionnaire was used to assess recognition of the names of developmental disorders and to determine the corresponding methods through which the information was obtained. We analyzed cognitive states by classifying the respondents by occupation (education and health care professionals) and by whether the subject had a developmental disorder or was a family member or friend of a person with a developmental disorder separately.Results　The percentage of respondents that reported having heard about developmental disorders was 91.5%. However, only 26.5% reported having provided some form of support to people with developmental disabilities. The percentages of education and health care professionals who were aware of developmental disorders were close to 100%; however, only 63.9% and 42.9%, respectively, could cite how they had become aware of developmental disorders. With regard to the sources of information on developmental disorders, the most frequent answers were television and radio programs (67.1%), followed by the internet. Of all the respondents, 11.3% had heard about developmental disorders in a school setting and 9.9% had heard about the disorders in the workplace.Conclusion　To increase understanding of developmental disorders among education and health care professionals, basic and in-service education must be improved. Furthermore, it is important to provide information on developmental disorders through the media.