Clinician perspectives on the need for training on caring for pregnant women with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Nili Amir, Lauren D Smith, Anne M Valentine and 3 others
PMID 35031269WHAT IT FOUND
Obstetric clinicians reported feeling unprepared to care for pregnant women with intellectual disabilities due to a lack of formal training.
They requested practical guidelines, accessible patient materials, and specific communication strategies to improve confidence and reduce stigma in clinical settings.
Key findings
01All participants reported a lack of formal education and training on the obstetric care of women with intellectual and developmental disabilities, with most relying on on-the-job learning or self-study.
02Clinicians identified significant gaps in practical skills, particularly regarding effective communication and navigating legal or guardianship issues, and requested tools like sample language and accessible materials.
03Nearly half of the clinicians expressed negative attitudes or biases regarding childbearing for women with intellectual disabilities, despite acknowledging disparities in care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample lacked racial, ethnic, and age diversity. Participants were required to have prior experience caring for women with IDD, which may have excluded clinicians with different perspectives or no experience. The study reflects the perspectives of 17 clinicians and may not represent the broader population of obstetric providers. One participant was a nurse, while the majority were physicians, meaning clinical training backgrounds varied. Qualitative data are subject to recall and social desirability biases. The study reports clinician opinions and experiences, not patient outcomes or the effectiveness of any specific intervention.
Declared interests
The research was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01HD082105.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these findings as evidence that training improves patient outcomes. This study describes clinician perceptions and gaps in current practice; it did not test an intervention or measure health results for women with IDD.