“The doctor will see you now”: Direct support professionals’ perspectives on supporting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities accessing health care during COVID-19

Lunsky, Yona; Bobbette, Nicole; Selick, Avra; Jiwa, Muhammad Irfan

doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101066

Cited by 35 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Without the capacity to identify people with intellectual disability in emergency management surveillance systems, they may be overlooked when interventions are planned and evaluated. While this review highlights that infection control measures in healthcare facilities have managed the pandemic well there is little known about infection control knowledge, attitudes, and practices among staff [ 51 ]. This is essential as care environments have special infection control needs as they act as both the individual’s permanent home and place where medical care is provided [ 52 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The reported effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with intellectual disability and their carers: a scoping review

Doody

Keenan

2021

Annals of Medicine

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Background: People with an intellectual disability are a vulnerable group during COVID-19 due to multi-morbidity, frailty, underlying conditions/health problems, social circumstances and limitations in understanding. This place them at greater risk of more severe outcomes from COVID-19. Objective: To chart the evidence of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with intellectual disability and their carers reported in the research. Methods: A scoping review method was used to review literature published across eight databases in 2020 and included manual searches of reference lists of included articles. Results: Sixteen studies were selected for inclusion. The findings highlight that professionals, people with intellectual disability and their carers were keen to comply with pandemic related public health guidance. However, implementing infection prevention and control measures in certain contexts for people with intellectual disability was challenging. Thereby a rights-based, person-centred approach to care is essential and professionals need to extend their understanding and practice of collaborative working to include people with intellectual disability and their family/carers. The findings highlight that compliance with public health guidance and infection control measures can be difficult for people with intellectual disability to implement. Conclusions: There is limited good quality robust research on COVID-19 and people with intellectual disability and/or their carers experiences.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The reported effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with intellectual disability and their carers: a scoping review

Doody

Keenan

2021

Annals of Medicine

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“…These consequences of the pandemic are also reflected in the narratives of our sample of parents. In order to support families caring for an adult with ID, further research is required to devise effective, accessible and acceptable virtual and in-person health and social care services for these families (Lake et al, 2021;Lunsky, Bobbette, Selick, & Jiwa, 2021), including staff training on how to enable service users to understand the virus and its effect on everyday life (Dean, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Experiences of Carers of Adults With Intellectual Disabilities During the First COVID‐19 Lockdown Period

Patel

Perez‐Olivas

Kroese

et al. 2021

Policy Practice Intel Disabi

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Background The recent COVID‐19 pandemic led to widespread international restrictions, severely impacting on health and social care services. For many individuals with an intellectual disability (ID) this meant reduced access to services and support for them and their carers. Aim The aim of this study was to gain insight into the ways parents of adults with ID coped during the first 2020 lockdown period. Methods Eight parents of adults with ID were interviewed. The recordings of these interviews were subjected to a thematic analysis. Results Four main themes were identified: powerless and unappreciated; coping under lockdown; support; and the impact of lockdown on well‐being. Conclusions The parents of adults with ID who made up our sample reported that they received little support from services and experienced a sense of powerlessness. Nevertheless, they were open to accepting support from family and friends and showed remarkable resilience. These findings are discussed in the light of the Willner et al. (2020) survey results on parental mental health and coping, and suggestions for future service provision during pandemic conditions are proposed.

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“…To optimise video-based care, people with IDD and their carers need universal access to stable high-speed internet and internet-enabled devices (Chadwick et al 2022;Shaw et al 2022). Digital liaison/support persons should be available to help patients use technological platforms to connect with their health care providers, given that for many individuals with IDD, phone-based care is insufficient (Lunsky et al 2021b). This can be done at the person's home, at a disability-based agency or even in a health care setting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phone-based visits, especially without video, may not offer this group the level of support that is needed and may be difficult for them to actively participate in. Although several studies in the IDD field have described shifts to virtual care during the pandemic (Zaagsma et al 2020;Krysta et al 2021;Lunsky et al 2021b), they have mostly come from the user's perspective and have not quantified use at the population level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in community and hospital‐based health care use during the COVID‐19 pandemic for adults with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities

Durbin

Balogh

Lin

et al. 2022

J intellect Disabil Res

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Background Due to the functional, cognitive and communication impairments associated with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD), adaptations to service delivery during the COVID‐19 pandemic may impact people with IDD differently than others. For community and hospital‐based services, this study describes the proportion of adults with and without IDD who used health care in the year pre‐COVID‐19 and the first year of the pandemic. Methods This retrospective cohort study used linked health administrative databases to identify adults aged 18–105 years with and without IDD using unique encoded identifiers. Counts and proportions of adults who used health care services were reported for the pre‐COVID‐19 year (16 March 2019 to 14 March 2020) and the first COVID‐19 year (15 March 2020 to 15 March 2021). Results Across services, the proportion of adults who used services was lower during the first COVID‐19 year compared with the year prior, except for virtual physician visits that increased markedly for people with and without IDD. While the proportion of adults who used services was higher for those with IDD compared with those without IDD for both years, differences were greatest for mental health emergency visits and hospitalisations; adults with IDD were 6.3 to 10.9 times more likely to use these services than others with no IDD during the pandemic. Conclusions During the first COVID‐19 year in Ontario, Canada, service use decreased for all service types, except for virtual physician visits. In both years, adults with IDD remained more likely to use services than other adults, with the largest differences in use of mental health hospitalisations and mental health emergency department visits.

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“The doctor will see you now”: Direct support professionals’ perspectives on supporting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities accessing health care during COVID-19

Cited by 35 publications

References 25 publications

The reported effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with intellectual disability and their carers: a scoping review

The reported effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with intellectual disability and their carers: a scoping review

The Experiences of Carers of Adults With Intellectual Disabilities During the First COVID‐19 Lockdown Period

Changes in community and hospital‐based health care use during the COVID‐19 pandemic for adults with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities

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