Bridging the gap: Understanding Irish teachers’ use of evidence-based practices with children with autism.

Background: Improving the translation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for students with autism from research into practice in classrooms is a key issue in autism education provision. Employing EBPs in educating students with autism has been associated with improved teacher and student outcomes, yet the potential for improved outcomes often goes unrealised due to implementation issues in adopting EBPs in the classroom. Identifying factors which help or hinder the adoption of EBPs is critical in bridging this research to practice gap. Furthermore, gaining an understanding of contextual factors in autism education is important to drive understanding of the implementation of EBPs in Ireland and more broadly. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to explore Irish teacher’s implementation of EBPs by identifying levels of knowledge and use of EBPs, levels of training, identifying barriers and facilitators to implementation, and by analysing factors which impact EBP use. Method: This thesis consists of a scoping review, three empirical studies and a protocol. The first study, a scoping review of the barriers and facilitators to autism EBP implementation in schools, sought to identify barriers and facilitators that school personnel experience when implementing EBPs in schools in the broader literature. Study 2 qualitatively examined teachers’ preparation for teaching students with autism and their perspectives of EBPs. Study 3 aimed to provide novel insights into the Irish context by identifying teacher characteristics of those working with students with autism in Ireland, and to examine their knowledge and use of EBPs. Study 4 analysed factors which impact mainstream teachers use of EBPs. Finally, Study 5 drew on the information collected in the previous studies, to develop a protocol for increasing the implementation of EBPs. Results: The results of the scoping review suggest that barriers and facilitators to implementation exist across three inter-related levels, the macro, school and individual levels, as suggested in the conceptual framework (Domitrovich et al., 2008). Study 2 identified that teachers perceive many issues with their training and preparedness for educating students with autism, and noted a lack of emphasis on EBP use in the educational culture in Ireland. The findings of Study 3 provide data to support the lack of preparedness of teachers to educate students with autism, with 65% of teachers receiving less than 3 hours of autism specific training in their initial teacher education, and 33% of teachers receiving no autism specific continuous professional development. Furthermore, teachers differed significantly on use and knowledge of EBPs, with mainstream class teachers, those with less experience, less training and less access to support professionals reporting lowest use and knowledge of EBPs. In Study 4, we found that training, knowledge, and attitudes towards EBPs were significantly associated with EBP use. Finally, in Study 5 the findings of all studies was collated, and a contextually driven protocol rooted in implementation science theory was developed to provide a blueprint for increasing teacher’s use of EBPs. Conclusion: Overall, the findings provide an important insight into autism EBP use in Ireland, and identified a number of factors which impact autism EBP use in school settings, significantly contributing to the state-of-the-art. In particular, the findings suggest that Irish teachers are under-prepared to educate students with autism that teachers lack knowledge and rarely use EBPs, and significant implementation support is needed to overcome the barriers to implementing EBPs in mainstream school settings.