"A co-produced exploration of Autistic Burnout: Predictors, Consequences and Coping Strategies"

Up to 80% of autistic people experience mental ill-health (Simonoff et al., 2008; Lever & Geurts., 2016) which is higher than the general population - 23.4% (Hughes Mccormack et al., 2017). These difficulties are key contributors to reduced wellbeing in autistic people (Oakley et al., 2020). One issue the autistic community state

contributes to this is autistic burnout. Autistic burnout can be defined as a chronic state of exhaustion and distress, resulting in decline of daily living skills (e.g. maintaining relationship/jobs - Raymaker et al., 2020). Research suggests that autistic burnout is driven by autistic people living in an unaccommodating world (e.g. large number of

social expectations) that pressures them into 'masking' (hiding) their autism (Higgins et al., 2021). Within academia, research focuses on defining autistic burnout (e.g. Higgins et al., 2021; Mantzalas et al., 2022), with less focus on other factors, such as predictors and coping strategies, which have been identified as the next

steps by autistic advocates. Therefore, this project responds to the literature gap, aiming to use interview and physiological data (e.g. sleep data) to explore: Predictors/risk factors of autistic burnout (to inform areas for prevention), consequences/outcomes (to identify pathways to/through autistic burnout), and identifying

coping strategies to support and/or prevent autistic burnout (to develop approaches for managing autistic burnout that autistic people endorse).