Improving health assessment for people with an intellectual disability
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
Funded by EIT Health (https://www.eithealth.eu/campus)
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What’s it about?
The health experience of people with an intellectual disability is different than that of their non-disabled peers. It has been reported that people with intellectual disabilities are two and a half times more likely to present with health problems than those in the general population of the same age and gender. The most prevalent health conditions among people with and intellectual disability differ. They experience higher rates of eye disease, neurological conditions and skeletal conditions. When attending for health assessment the usual suspects such as cardiovascular disease can be the focus of the examination and subsequently the more prevalently occurring conditions can go under investigated and people's needs go unmet. Coupled with this, people with intellectual disability do have communication challenges and find it difficult to express their needs or symptoms to healthcare professionals.
Why develop a Massive Open Online Course on improving health assessment for people with an intellectual disability?
The massive open online course (MOOC) was developed to support healthcare professionals develop the techniques to communicate, engage and support the person with an intellectual disability during their health assessment. Funded by an EIT Health Award and delivered through the FutureLearn platform the course has now had three runs with over 3,500 learners from throughout the world. The course is run over three weeks with three structured modules covering the Health and wellbeing challenges for people with an intellectual disability; Best practices in communicating with people with an intellectual disability in health assessment and finally; Applying reasonable adjustments to performing a health assessment with people with an intellectual disability.
What feedback has been received?
The feedback has been very positive with learners remarking how useful it has been to their practice, 'This course is the first I have ever come across and I am about to retire! It should be a mandatory part of CPD' and 'There have been no CPD courses run by our profession to date in this field. This course has been invaluable and we will certainly suggest that similar courses are made available in the future'. Overall, these vignettes demonstrate the value of the course. The post-course survey asked learners if the course had changed their practice in assessing or supporting people with intellectual disability in health assessment. In total, 87% reported a change in their practice, including changing their communication techniques, using easy to read materials, implementing reasonable adjustments, encouraging colleagues to communicate more effectively and presenting a more person-centred care approach. A further 83% of learners reported that the course had changed their perceptions of communicating with people with an intellectual disability with a further 79% of respondents reporting that the course had contributed to their day-to-day work with people with an intellectual disability. This is succinctly captured in the following quote from a learner; 'Courses like this one are perfect for most people as they are manageable and don't require too much time especially for people who are working or have busy home lives yet provide great information. I found this one very informative'. These responses suggest that the majority of learners felt the course increased their awareness, confidence, preparedness, and skills in working with people with an intellectual disability.