Gaining actionable knowledge to improve local health-promoting capacities in long-term care support settings for people with intellectual disabilities.

Journal: Patient Education And Counseling
Published:
Abstract

Objective: People with intellectual disabilities (ID) are largely dependent on their environment to live healthily and, in this, ID-support organizations play a vital role. An environmental asset mapping tool for ID-support settings has been developed. This study aims to provide insight into whether or not the tool can provide a comprehensive view on assets in the system and actionable knowledge to improve health-promoting capacities in ID-support settings.

Methods: Fifty-seven users from four setting completed the tool on availability, user satisfaction, and dreams regarding social, physical, organizational, and financial assets.

Results: The findings provide a comprehensive view of available assets. Together with user satisfaction and dreams for improvements, they provide actionable knowledge for improving the health-promoting capacities of the settings, including: (1) how use of available assets can be improved, (2) the type of assets that should be enriched, and (3) the assets that can be added to the system.

Conclusion: The asset mapping tool provides a comprehensive view on assets in the system and actionable knowledge to improve health-promoting capacities in ID-support settings. Practice implications: ID-support organizations can use the tool to generate actionable bottom-up knowledge for priority setting and implementing interventions to improve their health-promoting capacities.

Authors
Kristel Vlot Van Anrooij, Jenneken Naaldenberg, Thessa Hilgenkamp, Annelies Overwijk, Koos Van Der Velden, Geraline Leusink