Health care service provision for country people with developmental disability: an Australian perspective

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Abstract

Priorities in the delivery of health care to Australian country people with developmental disability were explored through focus groups and interviews of key stakeholder groups from four rural/regional towns. Data were analysed for themes, which converged on lack of access to primary health care providers who lacked knowledge about and had poor attitudes towards developmental disability, discriminatory practices, the burden on support people, and communication difficulties between GPs and people with developmental disability. Potential strategies to address the apparent dissatisfaction with primary health care and GP concerns about working with this group were also evident in the data. In particular, open communication between stakeholders as a mechanism for collaborative problem solving and a strategy to avoid burn out for both support people and GPs is recommended. Facilitation of such communication can best occur through undergraduate training and participation of disability workers in activities of organisations that support GPs.

Section snippets

Target communities

Participants were recruited from one Victorian regional centre and three smaller rural towns, one in each of the states of Victoria, NSW and South Australia. The regional centre (population 88,000) is located 171 km from the Victorian capital, Melbourne. Town 1 (population 22,000) is located 336 km from Melbourne. Town 2 (population 8,300) is located in NSW, 385 km west of the capital city, Sydney. Town 3 (population 7,300) is located in South Australia, 260 km from the capital city, Adelaide.

Participants

People with developmental disability, family members and early intervention workers

A total of 10 transcript documents were coded within this category. The emerging themes that were coded in three or more transcripts are summarised in Table 2.

Discussion

The strongest themes across the focus groups of people with developmental disability, their support people, and professionals were mostly negative and related to difficulties in accessing hospital and GP services, health care professionals’ lack of knowledge and expertise about developmental disability (e.g., Beange et al., 1995; Dovey & Webb, 2000; Iacono et al., 2002, Iacono et al., 2003), and problematic attitudes (Gething, 1992, Newall, 1999; Slevin & Sines, 1996). These barriers to health

Summary and conclusions

The present study involved different stakeholders associated with health care for country people with developmental disability. The results highlight the difficulties that people with developmental disability experience in accessing adequate services in four Australian rural towns. The extent to which the issues raised in the current study are evident elsewhere, including internationally, remains to be explored. The results of this study indicate, nonetheless, that Australian country people

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by an Australian Department of Health and Aged Care, Rural Health Support, Education and Training grant. Portions of this study have been presented at the Australian Society for the Study of Intellectual Disability National Conference, Melbourne, 2001, and the WONCA International Conference, May, 2002. We extend our sincere thanks to the participants in the study, and the organisations and individuals who assisted with their recruitment. In particular, we thank Ms Linda

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