Using National Survey Data to Estimate Healthcare Communication Disparities for Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Adults with IDD get fuzzier medical explanations and lower satisfaction—train providers now.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Koenig et al. (2025) mined a national health survey to compare how adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities talk with doctors versus adults without disabilities.
They looked at how clear the medical information felt and how happy people were with the visit.
What they found
Adults with IDD got harder-to-understand explanations and left the office less satisfied.
The gap was big enough to flag a system-wide problem, not just a few bad visits.
How this fits with other research
Fortney et al. (2021) extends the story: rural adults with IDD already see the doctor less; poor communication adds another wall.
Delprato (2001) saw the same mismatch in small services—staff talked over clients' heads 45 % of the time—now we know it happens nationwide.
Doughty et al. (2010) gives the fix: one hospital trained staff, used picture cards, and cut fear before EEGs and blood draws. Jamie's numbers show why every hospital needs that playbook.
Why it matters
You can't fix health disparities if the patient leaves the room confused. Use the H et al. recipe: teach providers to slow down, show visuals, and check understanding. Add a pre-visit tour or phone call. These small steps turn the national data into a local win.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous studies have identified considerable health outcome disparities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as well as poor or ineffective communication between adults with IDD and their medical providers. METHODS: Using National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, this paper uses logistic regression to estimate disparities in healthcare communication and satisfaction between adults with IDD, adults with non-IDD disabilities, and adults with no reported disabilities, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Communication quality is measured with survey questions about whether medical providers are respectful, ask for patients' opinions, and offer understandable medical information. RESULTS: We identified sizeable disparities in communication quality and satisfaction between adults with non-IDD disabilities and no reported disabilities. Adults with IDD experienced significantly lower odds of receiving understandable information compared to adults with no reported disabilities. There are suggestive evidence that adults with IDD have lower odds of being satisfied with healthcare, having their opinion asked, and feeling respected. CONCLUSIONS: There are healthcare communication and satisfaction disparities between adults with and without IDD or other disabilities. Future research should characterise the size and exact nature of these disparities in communication quality and satisfaction for those with IDD. These findings can inform interventions and trainings to improve communication quality and satisfaction for those with all forms of disability.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2025 · doi:10.1111/jir.13224