Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Science

Program

Psychology

Supervisor

Stevenson, Ryan A.

Abstract

Autistic individuals report sensory processing issues, which may impact daily experiences and abilities in educational and employment circumstances. Research that has explored contextual impacts on sensory processing is lab-based, lacking ecological validity, or qualitative and questionnaire based, introducing recall bias. We used ecological momentary assessment to investigate the daily sensory experiences of 41 autistic adults, who completed three daily questionnaires regarding their sensory experiences for two weeks. We conducted a mixed-methods analysis of their data. Results indicated significant associations between participants’ positive, negative, and neutral sensory experiences and their surroundings and other contextual factors. We found no significant relationship between these experiences and their scores on standardized measures of autistic traits. Our thematic analysis revealed themes related to stimuli impacting, reactions to, and coping mechanisms for sensory experiences. These findings have implications for autistic adults to identify coping mechanisms to negative sensory experiences and create more sensory inclusive environments.

Summary for Lay Audience

Autistic people often have problems with how they sense information like things we see, hear, touch, smell, and feel. They may feel that some things are too loud, bright, or hot, while others are too dull, quiet, or cold. Sometimes, they may feel uncomfortable depending on what they sense. We want to know what things autistic adults sense at home and at work that make them feel this way. We also want to know where they are and who they are with when they feel this way, and what they do to feel better.

Other studies have tried to find out these things using different behavioural experiments, but these experiments do not consider what you sense in everyday life. Other studies have used interviews to ask autistic adults about these things, but sometimes during interviews, you forget what you sensed in the past. We want to find out what autistic adults sense in their everyday life at the time they are sensing it.

We studied this by asking autistic adults to answer surveys about their senses and behaviours. We then texted them a short survey 3 times per day for two weeks. The survey was about the autistic adult’s in-the-moment mood, senses, and surroundings. We found that things like where the person was, who they were with, and their feelings and mood impacted their sensory experiences. We also found no relationship between the responses on the first survey and those on the daily surveys. This may mean that autistic adults sense different things in real time than typical questionnaires ask them about.

This study is important for understanding which things in an autistic adult’s surroundings impact their senses, how they react to these things, and what they can do to help them feel better when their senses make them feel uncomfortable. This information can help them make changes to the home and work settings that can lower their sensory problems, improving their daily living.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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