Abstract
Investments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research, guided by the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), have focused disproportionately on etiology over a well-established stakeholder priority area: research to improve accessibility and quality of community-based services. This study analyzed National Institutes of Health ASD services research funding from 2008 to 2018 to examine funding patterns, evaluate the impact of IACC objectives, and identify future directions. Approximately 9% of total funds were allocated to services research. This investment remained relatively stable across time and lacked diversity across domains (e.g., area of focus, ages sampled, implementation strategies used). While advancements were observed, including increased prevalence of projects focused on adult samples and on dissemination/implementation and prevention areas, greater investment in service research is critically needed.
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Funding
This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (P50MH113662). The authors thank the NIMH for their support but acknowledge that the findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NIMH.
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PC participated in the design of the study, performed data extraction and statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript. MM, JE, and DS performed data extraction, assisted in interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript. RP helped to develop search terms, assisted in interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript. KN and KH assisted in interpretation of the data and helped to draft the manuscript. SH participated in the design of the study, supervised data extraction, assisted in interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Cervantes, P.E., Matheis, M., Estabillo, J. et al. Trends Over a Decade in NIH Funding for Autism Spectrum Disorder Services Research. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 2751–2763 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04746-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04746-3