Developing an Online Tool to Measure Social Network Structure and Perceived Social Support Amongst Autistic Students in Higher Education: A Feasibility Study
Open accessAbstract
The academic, daily-living, and social challenges all students face during university transition can become magnified for many autistic students, who might struggle to adapt to changes in their social network structure (SNS) and perceived social support (PSS). This study assessed the development, feasibility, and convergent validity of a novel online tool (Social Network and Perceived Social Support-SNaPSS) designed to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate SNS and PSS during university transition. SNaPSS demonstrated good feasibility for completion amongst autistic students (Study 1, n = 10, 17-19 years), and adequate convergent validity against other PSS, autism symptom severity, and social anxiety measures amongst autistic (n = 28) and typically developing students (Study 2, n = 112, 17-19 years). Broader implications of SNaPSS to measure SNS/PSS are discussed.
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“The social network and perceived social support (SNaPSS) is a novel online tool that measures students’ SNS (network size, density and composition), as well as perceived distress frequency, and PSS from their network members across a range of academic, daily living and socialisation areas (Lei et al., 2019).”
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- Authors
- Lei, J., Ashwin, C., Brosnan, M., & Russell, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Bath (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Lei, Jiedi
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2019-05-22
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 3526-3542
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- PMC
- PMC6667418
- OpenAlex
- W2946307147
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 1.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Office for Fair Access (PhD studentship)
- Widening Participation, University of Bath (PhD studentship)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Keywords
- students with autism, social network structure, perceived social support, transition to college, convergent validity, social anxiety, autism severity, higher education
- MeSH terms
- Attitude, Autistic Disorder, Feasibility Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Social Support, Software, Students, Universities, Social Networking
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