Unlocking the Potential of State Level Data: Opportunities to Monitor Health and Related Outcomes in People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Housing and Long-Term Services and Supports for People With Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities From Racially and Culturally Minoritized Communities

This article describes research on the places people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) live and disparities in housing and long-term services and supports (LTSS) outcomes for people with IDD from racially and culturally minoritized groups. It also summarizes the conclusions and recommendations of the Housing and Long-Term Services and Supports strand of the 2022 State of the Science Conference on the Intersection of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Supports and Services for People with IDD, identifies limitations of the available research and recommends strategies to improve research, knowledge translation, and practices.

An Examination of Support Needs, Supports, and Outcomes for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Researchers used a merged dataset to examine if more resources were expended on those with greater support needs and if support needs impacted personal outcomes when controlling for relevant personal and contextual factors. Results indicated that the amount of support a person receives had a direct relationship to their needs. However, we also found that people with the greatest needs had weaker personal outcomes suggesting that distribution of resources based on need may not result in equivalent outcomes. The authors suggest strategies at an individual and systems level to address the outcomes gap for people with the greatest support needs.

Invisible populations: Who is missing from research in intellectual disability?

It is estimated that approximately 41% of adults with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) are served through the developmental disabilities (DD) system in the US. The remaining 59% include individuals who meet diagnostic criteria but are not actively receiving paid services or may not be known to the DD system. Scholars have referred to this group as the "hidden majority." Very little is known about the health and well-being of these adults. It remains to be seen if the hidden majority is comparably susceptible to mental health difficulties, given how little is known about this population by DD systems. The purpose of this manuscript is to highlight where one may identify individuals belonging to this hidden population and how researchers might effectively recruit from this group so as to ensure more representative samples of all people with IDD.

Testing a Wellness Indicators Measure for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilitiesa

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often have health and wellness issues that are not as good as people without disabilities. States are required to monitor health and wellness for people with IDD who use many disability services. However, there are few ways to monitor wellness between states or at different points in time. In this study, we share a new model that states may use to monitor wellness of people with IDD.

METHODS

We used data from a survey called the National Core Indicators (NCI) to develop this model. First, we developed the model using our state's data. Then, after we found a model that worked well, we tested that model using the National Core Indicators from the entire U.S.

RESULTS

Our final model worked well in both our state NCI data and the national NCI data. This is important because policies at both levels can affect the services that people with disabilities can use. Our model had three parts: heart health, mental health, and behavioral wellness. These are described more in the paper. We also used statistics to test some factors that might predict outcomes related to heart health, mental health, and behavioral wellness. Age, sex, where someone lives, and level of intellectual disability were all good predictors of all three categories of wellness that we studied.

IMPLICATIONS

The model of wellness that we developed worked well but should be tested using data from other individual states. It is very important to know about health and wellness right now since the services people with disabilities can use are changing in many states. We think our model can help planners and advocates understand how services affect wellness in a way that is easy to compare from state to state and at different points in time.

A Call for Better Data on Prevalence and Health Surveillance of People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

The U.S. approach to the health of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is fraught with paradox. The health of this population has been of longstanding concern, yet we understand their health less well than many other groups. The U.S. spends much more per person on the well-being of people with IDD compared to the general population, yet the outcomes of those expenditures are disappointing and include significant preventable health disparities. Even as expectations for people with IDD have changed to include better health and greater participation in their communities, eligibility for services that support these outcomes is rooted in expectations of dependence and poverty. This article is a call for better data that considers a series of questions to provide context for understanding the need and directions for better health surveillance of people with IDD.

What Matters in Population Health and How We Count It Among People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

This issue, On Counting What Matters: Finding Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Population Health Data, presents an overview of health surveillance research for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in the United States. Although public health now conducts surveillance of people with disabilities broadly defined and compares their health status with that of individuals without disabilities, there are many challenges in conducting health surveillance of people with IDD. Difficulties include how to define cases, how to find cases, and how to obtain accurate information ( Krahn, Fox, Campbell, Ramon, & Jesien, 2010 ). This issue will present critical conceptual and methodological issues, including recent prevalence and population health analyses, along with proposals that can lead to more equitable health and improved health surveillance for people with IDD.

Data Linkage: Canadian and Australian Perspectives on a Valuable Methodology for Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research

Data linkage holds great promise for generating new information about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as a population, yet few centers have developed the infrastructure to utilize this methodology. Two examples, from Canada and Australia, describe their efforts in building data linkage capabilities, and how linked databases can be used to identify persons with IDD and used for population-based research. The value of data linkage is illustrated through new estimates of prevalence of IDD; health service utilization patterns; associations with sociodemographic characteristics, and with physical and mental health conditions (e.g., chronic diseases, injury, fertility, and depression); and findings on equity in medical treatments. Examples are provided of findings used for governmental policy and program planning.