Faculty Member Awarded Grant to Investigate Economic and Healthcare Impacts of COVID-19 on Adolescents with Autism 

Assistant Professor Dr. Kristy Anderson was recently awarded a $110K+ grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to conduct an Autism Secondary Data Analysis on the economic and healthcare impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families. 

As principal investigator, Dr. Anderson will lead her team, including Dr. Michael Killian and Dr. Melissa Radey (FSU College of Social Work, and Dr. Jessica Rast (Drexel Autism Institute), to consider the context-specific effects of race/ethnicity and income on families with adolescents with ASD. Families with children with ASD face higher levels of social and economic burdens, with one sample suggesting that nearly 50% of these families experience economic hardship.  

“Minoritized and low-income children with ASD bear a disproportionate number of social and economic hardships which have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” explained Dr. Anderson.  

Health disparities based on income, race and ethnicity are well established in autism research, but little is known about the mechanisms that underly these disparities and how the pandemic may have impacted these existing disparities. 

The study includes three aims: 

• Identify the prevalence, determinants, and context of economic insecurity during COVID-19 among households of adolescents and young adults with autism. 

• Examine changes in economic insecurity and access to healthcare among adolescents with autism before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and context-specific effects (e.g., race and ethnicity, household income).  

• Identify economic profiles associated with access to healthcare among children with autism during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“This study focuses on identifying the specific conditions and characteristics unique to the population of underserved children with ASD along with identifying the risk and protective factors that can reduce these disparities,” explained Dr. Anderson. 

The study will utilize timely, large data sets rich in information that can provide a more nuanced and detailed story about the experiences of minoritized families with children with ASD. Use of population-level data can shed light on how resources are distributed across social and demographic strata and draw attention to the social structures that systematically benefit certain groups. 

The study aligns well with current health nationwide health initiatives include the Healthy People 2030 plan to improve health and well-being through data driven research and the HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau strategic plan to ensure health equity and access to health services to children and families. 

To learn more about the study, contact Dr. Kristy Anderson at kanderson@fsu.edu.