INSAR Institute 2024:

Ageing in Autism

Session 2: Mental Health and Wellbeing on the Autism Spectrum in Older Age

Presenters: Professor Francesca Happe and Dr. Gavin Stewart

About this session:

In this session, Prof Francesca Happé and Dr Gavin Stewart will discuss a range of quantitative and qualitative research that explores mental health and wellbeing in midlife and older age. These studies, designed with the involvement of autistic steering groups and PPI, explore rates and correlates of poor mental health and suicidality, the influence of life experiences on wellbeing, rates and correlates of social isolation and loneliness, factors that influence quality of life, and more.

Prof Happé and Dr Stewart will also discuss how different but complementary conceptual approaches can be used to examine ageing in autism. The first is a dimensional approach which examines the experiences of those with high autistic traits, which accounts for the high rates of underdiagnosis of autism in older people. The second is a categorical approach, which explores the experience of those with an autism diagnosis or who self-identify as autistic. By combining these different but complementary approaches, we can leverage large and novel datasets to further our understanding of the support needs of people across the autism spectrum as they age.

This session will provide you with an understanding of the mental health and wellbeing profiles of autistic people in midlife and older age and will highlight areas where autistic people are likely to benefit from support as they age, to ensure they live long and happy lives.

About the presenters:

Prof Francesca Happé, King’s College London

Francesca Happé is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London. Her research has focused on autism for over 30 years. Some of her recent work focuses on mental health on the autism spectrum, and under-researched groups including women and older people. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences and a past-President of the International Society for Autism Research. She has received the British Psychological Society Spearman Medal and President’s Award, Experimental Psychology Society Prize, and Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award. She is co-author/editor of two recent books - Autism: A New Introduction to Psychological Theory and Debate (with Sue Fletcher-Watson), and Girls and Autism: Educational, Family and Personal Perspectives (with Barry Carpenter and Jo Egerton). In 2021, she was awarded a CBE by HRH Queen Elizabeth II for her services to the study of autism.

Dr Gavin Stewart, King’s College London

Gavin Stewart is a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London. His principal research interests focus on trajectories of age-related change in autistic people’s health, cognition, wellbeing, and support needs in midlife and older age. He is also interested in improving methods of identification for undiagnosed autistic and other neurodivergent people. Gavin co-leads the Re:Spect Lab with Prof Francesca Happé. He also organizes the Autism Research (ARCH) Series and is a founding member and the coordination lead of the Autism Practitioner Network (funded by NHS England).

Session Materials

Recorded on July 22, 2024