
Exploring the Role of Healthcare Staff Education and Experience on Comfort Level when Providing Care to Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
Background People with intellectual disabilities are part of a unique group that experiences significant health disparities, expresses dissatisfaction with healthcare interactions, suffers higher rates of medical harm events, and has unique communication needs. Most of the approximately 6.5 million people with intellectual disabilities living in the United States currently reside outside of large institutions in smaller group-home locations, with families, or independently with support services. While this improves social integration in some ways, it creates barriers to accessing culturally sensitive healthcare since many healthcare staff report lack of comfort when interacting with this population.
Methods This integrated doctoral research uses quantitative and qualitative methods to identify and describe variables associated with healthcare staff comfort level when providing care to, and communicating with, individuals with intellectual disabilities. Primary survey design serves as the main source of data for this study that explores the following aims. 1. Is the presence of specific course work regarding providing care to, and communicating with, individuals who have intellectual disabilities associated with healthcare staff comfort level? 2. Does healthcare staff experience providing care to, and communicating with, individuals who have intellectual disabilities correlate to comfort level? 3. What are the most commonly reported barriers experienced by healthcare staff when providing care to, and communicating with, individuals who have intellectual disabilities?
Results Findings revealed that both education and experience (as measured by frequency of interactions) are significantly associated with healthcare staff comfort level when providing care to, and communicating with, individuals with intellectual disabilities. Healthcare staff who received education on how to provide care to individuals with intellectual disabilities were significantly more likely to report an increased comfort level providing care (p=0.002). Likewise, those staff who received education on communicating with individuals who have intellectual disabilities indicated more comfort in this area (p=0.005). While education demonstrated a significant impact on comfort level, experience (frequency of interactions) had an even stronger association with both providing care (p <0.001) and communicating (p <0.001). Multivariable analysis of survey data identified that not only is there a significantly strong correlation between variables; education and experience are each associated with healthcare staff self-reported comfort levels. The odds of healthcare staff reporting increased comfort when providing care to individuals with intellectual disabilities are 96% higher for respondents who learned about providing care in the classroom versus those who did not (when controlling for covariates). Likewise, healthcare staff who received education on communicating with individuals who have intellectual disabilities are 91% more likely to report increased comfort levels related to communication. Healthcare staff who reported the frequency of providing care and/or communicating with individuals who have intellectual disabilities as “very often” are 9.5 times or 15 times as likely of reporting increased levels of comfort in the same area compared to someone with no experience (when holding all other features constant). Finally, communication-related themes accounted for 39% of all healthcare staff identified barriers to providing care and 58% of reported barriers to communicating with individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Conclusion Frequency of interactions has a stronger association to healthcare staff comfort level than education; although, both are significant factors in how healthcare staff self-assess levels of comfort in provision of care and communication to individuals with intellectual disabilities. Therefore, any educational intervention should consider how best to include experiential learning. Future research is needed to explore factors that improve communication skills, ideally looking at how curriculum and training programs can increase opportunities for healthcare staff to engage in interactions with individuals who have intellectual disabilities.
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Work Title | Exploring the Role of Healthcare Staff Education and Experience on Comfort Level when Providing Care to Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities |
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License | In Copyright (Rights Reserved) |
Work Type | Dissertation |
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Publication Date | December 2022 |
Deposited | November 27, 2022 |
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