Interprofessional Approach to Educate Health Care Students About Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Adaptive Communication and Physical Activity Planning

INTRODUCTION: People with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) are a historically marginalized population and often require complex team-based health care services. Health care students receive little, if any, training about caring for this population. Improving training at the student level can improve health care quality for this population. METHODS: We developed a two-part interprofessional seminar series to increase students’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills regarding caring for patients with IDD. The seminars were taught over Zoom and utilized presentation slides, prerecorded mock video interviews, and breakout room discussions focused on adaptive communication and developing adaptive physical activity plans for people with IDD. Participants comprised undergraduate and graduate students from various health care professional programs, including occupational therapy, medicine, and nursing. RESULTS: Part 1 had 208 participants, and part 2 had 107 participants. Both seminars were assessed using pre- and postsurveys that demonstrated increased participant comfort and confidence with the respective subjects. Competence of learned skills was not assessed. Participants in both seminars felt they would benefit from more direct interaction with people with IDD to practice learned skills. DISCUSSION: The results are encouraging for continued implementation at Quinnipiac University, with potential for use in other programs. Further iterations may include people with IDD serving as seminar cofacilitators, opportunities for students to directly interact with people with IDD, and use of an assessment approach evaluating learned skills competence. Curriculum expansion should cover the unique health care inequities faced by people with IDD who also belong to other marginalized groups.