Health and Mental Health in Adults with Intellectual Disability: Findings from a large, nationally representative database
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Content
This presentation will explore the findings and implications that are possible when using a US developmental disability (DD) protocol for health research. The National Core Indicators (NCI) is a quality management protocol for the developmental disabilities service delivery system directed by the Human Services Research Institute and the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services. This protocol requires a sample of at least 400 adults with developmental disabilities to be randomly drawn from state DD service registries from each state participating in the NCI protocol. This unique sample provides a rich opportunity to conduct research that is well powered and generalizes to US adults receiving DD services. We will discuss the findings from two recent studies using the NCI to explore the health and mental health of adults with DD: Race and Health Disparities in Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Living in the United States and Mental Health for People with Intellectual Disability: The impact of stress and social support. We learned that older adults are generally more likely to receive health care services than younger counterparts, that level of intellectual disability predicted health care utilization and that membership in an ethnic or racial minority group was associated with decreased utilization of certain health services. We found that 36.6% of our sample had a co-occurring mental health problem and that both mental illness and behavior problems varied by living situation and level of intellectual disability. Stress and lack of social support significantly predicted mental illness and behavior problems and social support even after controlling for gender, level of ID and place of residence. Opportunities for using the NCI data for future research will be discussed.
Speakers
Haleigh M. Scott, MA
Haleigh Scott is a PhD candidate at The Ohio State University in the field of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Psychology. She is currently completing a full time clinical internship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Her research interests include the mental and physical health of people with developmental disabilities, taking a holistic view of the various factors, both physical and psychosocial, that influence overall well-being. She has been an active member of AAIDD for four years and is currently serving as the Secretary of the Student and Early Career Interest Group.
Susan M. Havercamp, PhD
Susan Havercamp’s current research and clinical interests focus on physical and mental health issues in people with disabilities, especially developmental disabilities. She has contributed to health surveillance activities, health promotion programs, and healthcare provider education to improve the health and healthcare for children and adults with disabilities. Believing that the solution to the problem of health disparities for people with disabilities lies in education, Dr. Havercamp provides disability training to healthcare providers. She serves as the disability issue representative to the Group on Diversity and Inclusion at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Dr. Havercamp is the Principal Investigator of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded Ohio Disability and Health Program (ODHP). ODHP is a partnership between the Ohio Department of Health and Ohio’s two University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs): the Nisonger Center and the University of Cincinnati UCEDD at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She is also a consulting editor for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and the book review editor for the Journal on Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities. In addition, she is a chair member on the Research Committee for the National Association for the Dually Diagnosed, on the Board of Directors of the Human Services Research Institute, and a member of the NADD Professional Certification Committee. Dr. Havercamp is a founding member of the AAIDD Student and Early Career Professional Committee and is currently serving a four-year leadership role on the AAIDD Board of Directors. She will serve as an academic partner and key stakeholder in implementing health promotion throughout Ohio with the state DD Council, Disability and Health Program and key community based organizations to continue their work toward outreach, sustainability, and impact in Ohio.