Introduction

Asperger’s syndrome is a developmental disorder affecting the ability to socialize and communicate. Asperger’s is an autism spectrum. People affected with this syndrome have problems in understanding others point of view and these people have intense focus on a particular area. Boys are five times more effective than girls. In India, one in 500 people are diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome they live dependent on their family members. As people affected with this syndrome do not have the ability to socialize hence their neighbours and friends can be given higher degree awareness for protection for the people with Asperger’s syndrome (Jones & Meldal, 2001). In Adults, there are some psychological disorders which are considered as secondary asperger's syndrome and they can be treated by medication and counselling (Tantam, 2000). Students suffering with Asperger’s syndrome at university level should engage themselves in academic activities and should master life of independence which helps them to improve their confidence (Glennon, 2001). Children between 6 and 10 years who are suffering from Asperger’s syndrome can be given confidence by their parents' support by giving them problem-solving methods (Stichter, O’Connor, Herzog, Lierheimer, & McGhee, 2012). Anger management for children can be given by wait list control conditions (Sofronoff, Attwood, Hinton, & Levin, 2007). Aloe Vera can soothe our nerves so it can reduce anxiety which is a symptom of Asperger’s syndrome (Subasree, Murthykumar, & Dhanraj, 2016). A study had stated that the crown of a person affected with Asperger’s syndrome will be different from Normal people and incisal margin and Cervical margin will also be different (Ariga, 2018; Ganapathy, Kannan, & Venugopalan, 2017; Jain, Ranganathan, & Ganapathy, 2017). Children affected with Asperger’s syndrome tend to get cellulitis (Vijayalakshmi & Ganapathy, 2016)

This study was done to create awareness about Asperger’s syndrome and know about the problems faced by them. In previous studies, the people were not fully aware because the disorder was not defined properly. Aim of the study is to assess the awareness about Asperger’s syndrome among college students.

Materials and Methods

The study involves the awareness of Asperger’s syndrome among college students in the age group 17 to 25 years of age. A well-structured questionnaire comprising 10 questions covering the social demographic information, knowledge, attitude, perception was framed and administered to the participants through Google forms link.

In this prospective observational study, the pros are economical, easy to create, gathers large data, quick interpretation, wide reach, Heterogeneous population and cons are response bias and survey fatigue. The study was approved by the scientific review board, Saveetha dental College Chennai. The sample size was 101 college students, a simple random sampling method that is done to minimize response bias. Measures taken for minimizing errors are internal and external validity. Demographic information, symptoms and effects were the output variables. The descriptive statistics was done using SPSS software. Education, sex, knowledge, height and exposure were independent variable whereas awareness, interaction, knowledge come on attitude and perception.

Results and Discussion

Survey on knowledge and awareness on Asperger’s syndrome in which study population included that people belonging to age group 18 to 23 years of age gave the result that 54.4% of students were aware of aspergers syndrome which shows that more awareness should be given (Figure 1). 33.7% of them feel that the symptoms are behavioural aggression, anger, anxiety, learning disability and sensitivity to sound (Figure 2). 55.4% of them were aware that Asperger’s syndrome was more common among boys than girls (Figure 5). 61.4% of them say that the people affected with Asperger’s syndrome are more intelligent than us (Figure 6). 17.8% of them think that individuals with Asperger’s syndrome have psychiatric conditions (Figure 7). 49.5% of them agree that there is no diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s syndrome (Figure 8). 57.4% of them think that stress management can be used as a treatment for this syndrome (Figure 9). 48.5% of them think that Asperger’s syndrome and autism.

Figure 11, Chi-Square test was analyzed and p value was 0.730, and it was not statistically significant.

Figure 12, Chi-Square test was analyzed and p value was 0.09, and it was statistically significant. Female participants were more aware of the unique symptom of Asperger’s syndrome than the Male participants.

Figure 13, Chi Square test was analyzed and p value was 0.039, and it was statistically significant. Female participants were more aware that people with Asperger’s syndrome have interest in a particular topic than Male participants.

Figure 14, Female participants were more aware than Male participants that Asperger’s syndrome is more common among boys. Chi-Square test was analyzed and p-value was 0.038, and it was statistically significant.

Figure 15, Chi-Square test was analyzed and p-value was 0.002 and it was statistically significant. Female participants were more aware that people with Asperger’s syndrome have psychiatric conditions than male participants.

In other researches, it is said that to differentiate autism and Asperger’s syndrome further research should be done (Szatmari, Archer, Fisman, Streiner, & Wilson, 1995). Asperger’s syndrome in adulthood can be diagnosed through their past medical history (Roy, Dillo, & Emrich, 2009). Neurofeedback was effective to decrease attention and anxiety among people affected with Asperger’s syndrome (Thompson, Thompson, & Reid, 2010). Psychiatric conditions are mostly seen in people with Asperger’s syndrome but not in autism (Mazzone, Ruta, & Reale, 2012). Asperger’s syndrome is sometimes associated with neurological disorders (Szatmari, 1990). People with Asperger’s syndrome sometimes have caries in teeth (Ganapathy, Sathyamoorthy, & Ranganathan, 2016). Periodontal health status of people with this syndrome are very poor (Jyothi, 2017). As people with this syndrome cannot cooperate with the doctors, the procedures cannot be done properly (Ajay, 2017; Duraisamy, 2019; Jain et al., 2017). Methicillin sometimes can be used to cure Asperger’s syndrome in adults (Selvan & Ganapathy, 2016). Rural people are not aware of these kinds of disorders, so they can develop acromegaly also (Ashok & Suvitha, 2016; Ashok, 2014). Oral hygiene of these individuals will not be good so for treatment facial prosthesis is used (Basha, Ganapathy, & Venugopalan, 2018; Venugopalan, 2014). They don’t have fully developed jaws so retraction cords were used for treatment (Kannan & Venugopalan, 2018).

Conclusion

In this study, College students were aware of Asperger’s syndrome but often considered it as Autism. So more awareness should be given to know the difference between Asperger’s syndrome and Autism.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest for this study.

Funding Support

The authors declare that they have no funding support for this study.