Disclosing a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability to pediatric patients in Japan in early diagnostic stages and associated factors: a cross-sectional study

Table 2 Results of exploratory factor analysis

	Factor
	I	II	III
12. Parent(s) understands ASD	0.848	-0.055	0.043
15. Patient has a good relationship with parent(s)	0.766	0.043	0.035
11. Patient's secondary disorder symptoms are stable	0.688	0.001	-0.185
09. A good relationship between patient and physician has been established	0.522	0.155	0.089
18. There is agreement in opinion between parents	0.468	0.107	0.207
13. Have the time to explain to patient	0.461	0.001	0.283
20. Parent(s) gave consent regarding disclosure	0.460	-0.054	0.364
01. Patient has sufficient ability to understand	0.227	0.168	0.076
07. Other medical practitioners are cooperative	0.093	0.621	-0.061
04. Support services are available to patient	0.056	0.504	0.103
05. Patient requires treatment	-0.137	0.494	0.370
02. School shows understanding of ASD	0.357	0.476	-0.312
03. Patient exhibits strong ASD characteristics	-0.037	0.470	0.094
19. Patient exhibits mild ASD characteristics	0.066	0.449	-0.017
10. Patient characteristics are clearly within diagnostic criteria	0.001	0.395	0.304
08. Patient asked about the diagnosis	0.094	-0.114	0.538
14. Patient started to notice they are different from others	0.351	-0.133	0.506
17. Patient has the right to know	-0.113	0.258	0.435
06. Disclosure desired by parent(s)	0.013	0.197	0.409
16. Patient age is high	0.066	0.310	0.335
Inter-factor correlation	I	II	III
I: Readiness to accept diagnosis	—	0.326	0.248
II: Treatment systems		—	0.154
III: Needs for disclosure			—

Among 361 physicians who responded that "deciding on a case-by-case basis” was the ideal way of disclosing an ASD diagnosis, 324 who provided responses to all 20 items were included in this analysis. Four physicians who diagnosed ≥ 250 patients with ASD in the past year were excluded

ISSN: 1751-0759