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Health of people with intellectual disabilities: a review of factors influencing access to health care
- Author:
- RUDDICK Loraine
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Health Psychology, 10(4), November 2005, pp.559-570.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The rights and needs of people with intellectual disabilities are being acknowledged within Department of Health policies. In spite of this, however, it is frequently cited that people with intellectual disabilities are vulnerable to many health problems but have poor access to health-related services. There are many factors that can act as barriers to people with intellectual disabilities enjoying good health and accessing services. These include: (a) a lack of clarity regarding responsibilities for ensuring that health policies are operationalized; (b) social and residential aspects of life being emphasized within the quality of life framework for evaluating services for people with intellectual disabilities, with health as an under-represented domain; (c) a lack of reliable and valid measures that can be used with carers and people with intellectual disabilities to explore health, particularly in comparison to literature on the general population; (d) potential communication difficulties (between the person with intellectual disabilities, their carers and health staff) that can impact on decision-making processes from early identification of health problems through to the stage of gaining appropriate treatment. These areas are discussed giving rise to questions and challenges for policy makers, researchers and clinicians.
The development of a health status measure for self-report by people with intellectual disabilities
- Authors:
- RUDDICK Loraine, OLIVER Chris
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 18(2), June 2005, pp.143-150.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper describes the development of a self-report health status measure for use with people with intellectual disabilities living in staffed community-based accommodation, and reports preliminary reliability data for the schedule. Question and response items were adapted from a well-established measure (SF-36) used in the general population incorporating subscales such as General Health, Physical Functioning, Bodily Pain, Vitality, Mental Health, and Sensory Functioning. A variety of closed and open response formats were used based on the growing literature examining methods for interviewing people with intellectual disabilities. Results found that internal reliability and response consistency were investigated. Reliability for Physical Functioning, General Health and Bodily Pain was reasonable, but was unsatisfactory for Sensory Functioning, and Mental Health. The findings are discussed in light of the challenge of eliciting reliable responses from people with intellectual disabilities. Question methodologies can be built upon in further research.