Experiences of health care services among people with cognitive disabilities and mental health conditions.
Elizabeth M Stone, Elizabeth Wise, Elizabeth A Stuart and 1 others
PMID 37949697WHAT IT FOUND
People with a cognitive disability reported less satisfying health care than adults without one.
The gap was mainly in communication and time with providers. Among people with a cognitive disability, those with a co-occurring mental health condition reported similar experiences.
Key findings
01Adults with a cognitive disability rated their overall health care lower than adults without one: 7.62 versus 8.33 on a 0-to-10 scale where 0 is worst and 10 is best.
02Compared with adults without a cognitive disability, adults with a cognitive disability reported worse experiences on five of eight measures, including providers listening carefully, explaining things in a way that was easy to understand, showing respect, spending enough time, and giving advice that was easy to understand.
03Among adults with a cognitive disability, those with and without a co-occurring mental health condition reported similar overall satisfaction and similar health care experiences.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study looked at one point in time, so it cannot show that cognitive disability caused worse health care experiences. The survey excluded people living in institutions, so it may miss people with more severe cognitive disabilities or different care experiences. The cognitive disability measure was not a direct measure of intellectual or developmental disability; it could include age-related conditions such as dementia and miss developmental disabilities without cognitive limitations. Some answers may have been given by household members as proxies, which may not reflect the patient's own experience. The questions asked about health care over the prior year, so they may mix experiences with different types of providers.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that co-occurring mental health conditions made health care experiences worse. The study found no significant difference in experiences between people with a cognitive disability with and without a co-occurring mental health condition.