Stakeholder Perspectives on Interprofessional Primary Care for Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Ontario, Canada.
Ontario adults with IDD still face the same fragmented primary care seen since 2008, but person-centred planning offers a ready tool to fix it.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Wilson et al. (2023) talked to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, families, doctors, and care workers in Ontario.
They asked how these adults get primary care and what goes wrong.
The team recorded the talks and looked for shared problems.
What they found
Everyone said care is broken into pieces.
No clear team plan exists, so adults miss check-ups, dental visits, and cancer tests.
Doctors want help but do not know who should do what.
How this fits with other research
Matson et al. (2008) heard the same gaps in the United States fifteen years ago.
That study also found dental, cancer, and reproductive services were missed.
The old and new results match, so the problem is long-lasting.
Torelli et al. (2023) gives hope.
Their large Ontario study shows that when service plans list personal goals, adults feel more control and better well-being.
The two 2023 papers fit together: person-centred plans can fix the very gaps J et al. exposed.
Nevin et al. (2005) shows why gaps stay.
Practice nurses back then said they felt ready but had no ID training.
Little has changed, so the new call for structured teams still makes sense.
Why it matters
You can copy the person-centred fix today.
Add one page to the care plan that names each team member’s job for medical, dental, and cancer checks.
Hand it to the adult and the doctor.
One clear chart turns scattered care into joined-up care.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Access to high-quality primary care has been identified as a pressing need for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Interprofessional primary care teams offer comprehensive and coordinated approaches to primary care delivery and are well-positioned to address the needs of adults with IDD. The overall aim of this article is to describe the current provision of interprofessional primary care for adults with IDD from the perspectives of patients, caregivers, and health providers. Results provide important insights into the current state of practice and highlight a critical need for further work in the field to develop processes to engage in team-based care and demonstrate the value of the approach for this population.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2023 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-61.5.349