Adults with an intellectual disability often have difficulty meeting their health care needs. Compared to the general population, they have poorer health and have more difficulty finding, getting to, and paying for health care. This difficulty is true for both physical and mental health care needs.
Efforts in the community have been made to reduce these problems for people with intellectually disabilities. In the past, people with intellectually disabilities were taken care of in special institutions. Now there is a shift towards moving people out of institutions and into the community. But with this shift, it is necessary to ensure that there are appropriate community services available. Many ways to organise the community health care services have been developed.
To determine what are the effects of different ways to organise services, a review of the literature was conducted. After searching for all relevant studies, eight studies were found. These studies were done in a variety of countries which have different health care systems overall. Therefore it is difficult to say whether a specific service works the same way in a different country.
In England, community services which provide more contact to people with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems, may provide the same benefits as a standard service.
In the United States, community services which provide more intense services to people with intellectually disabilities and mental health problems, may provide more benefits than standard services. This may be true in England for people with mild or borderline intellectual disabilities.
Overall, more research is needed to determine the effects of different ways to organise services for people with intellectual disabilities. Most studies focused on people who had intellectual disabilities and mental health problems. But there were no studies on people who had intellectual disabilities and physical problems.