training and resources

Numerous guides are available to assist with providing care to patients with intellectual disability.

Health Care in People with Intellectual Disability Guidelines (ACI)

These Guidelines are designed to assist general practitioners to provide comprehensive health care to people with intellectual disability. The Guidelines are based on the best evidence available at the time of development. They provide information about commonly occurring health conditions that need to be screened for in people with intellectual disability.

STOMP – Managing the reduction of psychotropic medications

The use of psychotropic medications to manage behaviour in people with intellectual disability remains a concern, with roots in historical institutional practices. Evidence supporting this approach is limited, yet it continues to be permitted under the framework of approved restrictive practices.

Meaningful change requires coordinated action by people with intellectual disability, their families, clinical practitioners and service providers, along with the development of research evidence.  Initiatives such as StompOz provide a framework for this change, but to achieve these improvements will depend on enhanced access to behaviour supports and a commitment to high-quality of practice.

HealthPathways 

HealthPathways provide clinicians with locally agreed information to make informed decisions with patients at the point of care. It is primarily designed for general practice teams but is also accessible to specialists, allied health professionals, and other health professionals in your region. 

Below are the health pathways for intellectual disability in the Sydney and Southeastern Sydney Local Health Districts. 

Sydney HealthPathways: Intellectual Disability

• Behavioural Concerns in Children
• Behaviours of Concern in Adults with Intellectual Disability
• Developmental Concerns in Young Children
• Health Assessment for People with an Intellectual Disability
• Intellectual Disability in Adults – Genetics
• Mental Health Concerns in Adults with Intellectual Disability
• National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
• Navigating Death and Dying – Intellectual Disability
• Intellectual and Developmental Disability Requests

Therapeutic Guidelines: Intellectual Disability (subscription required)

Therapeutic Guidelines offer independent, evidence-based treatment advice for a wide range of clinical conditions, including intellectual disability health. The intellectual disability section provides practical guidance and detailed therapy recommendations to support clinicians in delivering safe, effective, and person-centred care.  The guidelines cover numerous aspects of intellectual disability health, including: 

• What are intellectual and developmental disability?
• Assessing developmental delay and disability
• Presentation of developmental delay and disability
• Principles of health care for people with developmental disability
• Introduction to ageing in people with developmental disability
• Managing a person with developmental disability who is ageing
• Life expectancy of people with developmental disability
• Establishing successful communication with people with developmental disability
• Communicating with a person with developmental disability
• Menstrual management and contraception in females with developmental disability

Mental Health 

People with intellectual disability are at a higher risk of experiencing mental health issues compared to other Australians. However, they often encounter numerous barriers to accessing and receiving suitable mental health care.  

Below are some resources to support the mental health of people with intellectual disability: 

Project GROW Intellectual Disability Mental Health page

Behaviours of Concern

RACGP: Assessment and management of people with intellectual disability

Background
General practitioners often care for people with an intellectual disability, and challenging behaviours are a common presentation, whether the patient lives with their family or in a group home.
Objective
This article aims to give practical advice on the assessment and treatment of behavioural issues in patients with intellectual disabilities.

Mental Health Intellectual Disability Hub- clinical resources

Health colleagues are invited to view the past program recordings from the 2020 Kids Webinar series.

Project GROW run regular CPD events on intellectual Disability health care.

Recordings of these training events can be found on CESPHNs YouTube page

GROW communication support page

My Health Matters communication folder – CID

Sexual Health – Just Checking Family Planning resources (Stats)

3DN Positive Cardiometabolic Health UNSW

Resources for health professionals editable easy read documents – (CID)

Family Planning NSW

Supporting decision making in reproductive and sexual health for people with disability.

Family Planning NSW has developed a tool for clinicians to provide guidelines for supporting people with intellectual disability to make their own decisions relating to their reproductive and sexual health. There may be many issues to consider and it is not always easy for the clinician to think about the important decision making factors during the consultation. The tool can guide clinicians when supporting a client to make their own decision in a specific situation.

Essential to supporting decision making is establishing good communication with the client. The tool includes tips for providing effective communication and includes links to easy-to-understand resources suitable for using with people with intellectual disability. The tool also provides scenarios around six reproductive and sexual health decisions in the clinical setting, including:

1. Whether to have sexual intercourse
2. Whether to have STI testing today
3. What type of contraception to use
4. Whether to have a cervical screening test today
5. Whether to become a mother
6. What to do about an unintended pregnancy

Sexual Assault

Seventy-two per cent of women with psychological or intellectual disability have experienced
violence since age 15. They are 16 percentage points more likely to have been sexually assaulted; 45 per cent of women with psychological or intellectual disability have been sexually assaulted compared with 29 per cent of women with any type of disability. They are at particular risk of domestic partner violence. Disability Royal Commission. Final Report – Volume 3 

Self Collection, Screen Me resources and information

Sexual Health – Just Checking NSW Family Planning

Reproductive health for women with an intellectual disability. RANZCOG