Health Intervention for Adolescents With Intellectual Disability
Condition: Vision Impairment; Hearing Impairment; Obesity
MeSH terms: Hearing Loss; Deafness; Intellectual Disability
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      People with intellectual disability die five to twenty years earlier than the general
      population. They also experience high levels of unrecognised disease and receive inadequate
      levels of health promotion or screening. Although they comprise 2.7% of our population (502
      000 Australians) they receive scant, if any, attention in the health literature.

      The barriers to good health for this population include: communication difficulties, impaired
      recall of significant health information, and inadequate training of health service
      providers. This project attempts to minimise some of these barriers through the use of a
      Health Intervention Package. Use of this package has been evaluated in adults, but not in
      adolescents, with intellectual disability.

      The Health Intervention Package includes a comprehensive health review, called the
      Comprehensive Health Assessment Program (CHAP), which is performed by the adolescent's
      general practitioner, and a diary, the Ask diary, used to collect and store health
      information and to enhance health advocacy skills. We specifically aim to test if adolescents
      with intellectual disability using this package will receive better health screening and
      prevention (our primary outcomes). We also aim to test if using the package results in
      improved health advocacy by adolescents with intellectual disability and their parents (our
      secondary outcomes). The tool should also be acceptable to those involved (another secondary
      outcome). To investigate these aims we propose a clustered randomised controlled trial, a
      methodology we have used successfully in two previous trials. We will recruit 1000
      adolescents (and their carers and teachers) in Special Education Schools and Special
      Education Units in Queensland.

      The CHAP health review aims to produce shorter-term benefits of improved health
      screening/promotion and disease detection, such as increased sensory testing, identification
      of vision or hearing impairment, and improved immunisation rates. The Ask diary is intended
      to produce longer-term benefits such as improved communication about health matters, improved
      health advocacy skills, improved health record keeping, and increased health maintenance.
    

Detailed description: 
      The intervention group of school adolescents will receive the Health Intervention Package
      (consisting of an Ask diary and a CHAP health review). During the first two terms of school
      the adolescents will receive their own Ask diary and will be trained in the use of the diary
      by their teacher. At the end of term two the carers and adolescents will be asked to complete
      part one of the CHAP tool, which comprises a health history, and make an appointed with their
      GP to complete a health assessment. After this assessment both the adolescent and the parent
      will use the Ask diary for all ongoing healthcare matters. The control group will receive
      their customary educational and medical care.
    

Intervention name(s): Health Intervention Package
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): CHAP and Ask Diary
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Supportive Care
Keywords: Intellectual disability; Health promotion; RCT