Healthy living according to adults with intellectual disabilities: towards tailoring health promotion initiatives.
Adults with mild-moderate ID define health as happiness, choice, and friends, so tailor plans to their own words and real-life barriers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The researchers asked adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability what healthy living means to them.
They used long interviews so people could speak in their own words.
No tests or workouts were done. The goal was to hear the real views of the people served.
What they found
Health was not just food and exercise. People said happiness, friends, and choosing their own day were just as important.
Big barriers showed up: no ride to the gym, staff who cancel plans, and food that fits a tight budget.
Because of these blocks, one-size-fits-all health classes often fail.
How this fits with other research
van Herwaarden et al. (2022) extends this view. They found that feeling accepted by others is the main key to well-being for the same group.
Giesbers et al. (2020) also extends the idea. They show that fun, mastery, and a friendly group are what actually get adults with ID moving.
Jin et al. (2020) seems to contradict the current study by saying ID severity does not predict poor health, but the two studies ask different questions. Faso et al. (2016) looked at personal meanings, while Jooyeon used charts and numbers. Both agree that lifestyle, not labels, shapes health.
Why it matters
Stop starting sessions with a food pyramid poster. Ask your client what makes them happy and what gets in their way. Build goals around those answers, then fix the real blocks like bus passes, cheap produce, or staff training. When programmes honor personal views and daily hurdles, adults with ID show up and stay engaged.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: A healthy lifestyle can prevent several health problems experienced by adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). For the development of effective and usable health promoting interventions for people with ID, the perspective of the intended audience should be taken into account. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight into the perspectives of people with mild to moderate ID on healthy living. METHOD: Qualitative study. Five semi-structured focus groups were conducted with a total of 21 adults with mild to moderate ID in the Netherlands. Discussions focused on three main themes: (1) perceptions of own health, (2) what participants consider as healthy living and (3) factors experienced to be related to the ability to live healthily. Interviews were analysed thematically resulting in two main domains: (1) perceptions of what is healthy and unhealthy and (2) factors that participants experience to be related to their ability to live healthily. RESULTS: For participants, healthy living entails more than healthy food and exercising: feeling healthy, happiness and level of independence are perceived as important as well. Factors experienced to relate to their ability to live healthily were (a lack of) motivation, support from others and environmental factors such as available health education, (a lack of) facilities and a(n) (dis)advantageous location of work or residence. CONCLUSIONS: This qualitative study shows that adults with mild to moderate ID have a good understanding of what being healthy and living healthily constitute. As they face several difficulties in their attempts to live healthily, existing health promotion programmes for people with ID must be tailored to individual preferences and motivations and adapted for individual physical disabilities. Moreover, because of their dependency on others, tailoring should also be focused on the resources and hindering factors in their physical and social environment.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2016 · doi:10.1111/jir.12243