Compared to other adults, those with intellectual and developmental disabilities have more health issues, yet are less likely to receive preventative care. One strategy that has shown success in increasing prevention activities and early detection of illness is the periodic comprehensive health assessment (the health check). Effectively moving evidence into practice is a complex process that often receives inadequate attention. This qualitative study evaluates the implementation of the health check at two primary-care clinics in Ontario, Canada, and the influence of the clinic context on implementation decisions. Each clinic implemented the same core components; however, due to contextual differences, some components were operationalized differently. Adapting to the setting context is important to ensuring successful and sustainable implementation.
Students with intellectual disability (ID) have to overcome many barriers and difficulties in order to access all levels of education and partake in college life. Thankfully, educational institutes around the globe are slowly beginning to examine how they can support equal rights of individuals with ID. In Ireland, one university has recently accredited an innovative higher education programme for college students with intellectual disabilities. One of the emergent modules focuses on mathematics and realises the important role that numeracy plays in today's society. Despite the increased emphasis on general mathematics education, the authors found there to be a dearth of research regarding the development of such a module for students with ID. This paper describes the design and development of the mathematics module and also details its piloting and evaluation with a cohort of students with ID who were enrolled in a higher education course in an Irish university.
There are more students with disabilities going to college than ever before. It is important that colleges understand the experiences of students with disabilities when in university. This research project was carried out by 12 students with intellectual disabilities who are enrolled in an Irish University, under the guidance of their lecturers. It looked at four research questions: (1) What do we like about going to college?; (2) What do we dislike about going to college?; (3) What supports do students with disabilities experience to participation in college?; and (4) what barriers do students with disabilities experience to participation in college? The results show many interesting findings about what students with disabilities experience in college and this information can be used to help colleges to better support students with disabilities.
Background: Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) experience barriers to community participation, yet their insider experiences of environmental barriers and supports to participation are largely absent from the literature. Aim/Objective: The aims of this research were to evaluate Photovoice as a participatory research method, examine environmental barriers and supports to community participation, and develop strategies to support self-determination and community participation for and with people with I/DD. Material and Method: This study utilised a participatory action research (PAR) approach in which participants used Photovoice during interviews and audits of participation environments to identify high interest participation activities and document supports and barriers in these environments. Data analysis utilised an iterative, participatory approach in which researchers and participants teamed up to select, contextualise, and codify the data. Thematic analyses involved both inductive and realist approaches. Results/Findings: Participants included 146 community-dwelling adults with I/DD from three U.S. urban sites. We present a conceptual model of nine themes at microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem environmental levels. Conclusions: Using Photovoice as a participatory method to strategize community participation can help ground systems change efforts in the voices of people with I/DD. Significance: By including people with I/DD in conversations that concern them, researchers and practitioners can support this population in ways that they find meaningful.
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