Development and Introduction of “Communication Passport” in an Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Unit for Persons With Intellectual Disabilities: A Brief Report from Singapore

Abstract

Persons with intellectual disabilities may present with multiple and complex needs including communication difficulties which may contribute to their challenging behaviors. Having a holistic account of each individual in terms of his or her needs, likes, and dislikes and behavioral issues may help to prevent communication breakdown between the persons with intellectual disabilities and caregivers which may in turn improve their quality of life and reduce their challenging behaviors. Communication passport is a practical and person-centered document providing a special and efficient way of sorting and presenting important and complex information about the person into an accessible manner. We describe the development and introduction of communication passports in an acute inpatient unit for adults with intellectual disabilities at the Institute of Mental Health, a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Singapore. The study team developed a communication passport through literature review, focus group discussions and liaison with caregivers and patients with intellectual disabilities. After an initial pilot for 6 months, improvements were made in the content and presentation. It was designed in such a way that useful information about the patient's personal and communication needs as well as behavioral problems and interventions were easily passed on to the community caregivers at the point of patient's discharge from the hospital. The final format of the communication passport consisted of a 12-page document encompassing multiple aspects including communication and behavioral profile. Our work may provide the necessary framework and directions in developing communication passports for services providers caring for people with intellectual disabilities. bs_bs_banner ConclusionsCommunication passports can play a significant role in improving care, communication, and addressing challenging behaviors of individuals with intellectual disabilities, particularly, in the community. We hope that sharing of our experience may provide the necessary framework and directions in developing communication passports in other services caring for people with intellectual disabilities.

A hostile context, very limited intervention theory and almost no change in outcomes: findings from a systematic realist review of health passports for Autistic adults

“…[40] Five sources discussed or evaluated tools which sought to improve communication. [26,36,[40][41][42] These included the testing and retesting of a particular intervention [26] or piloting an intervention and seeking stakeholder feedback. [42] Four sources did not report a research study, and were descriptive in nature, including commentaries and blog posts.…”

“…[26,36,[40][41][42] These included the testing and retesting of a particular intervention [26] or piloting an intervention and seeking stakeholder feedback. [42] Four sources did not report a research study, and were descriptive in nature, including commentaries and blog posts. Other sources described research or quality improvement initiatives but did not include details regarding data collection and analysis [42] or described a tool without detailing its evaluation or creation.…”

“…[42] Four sources did not report a research study, and were descriptive in nature, including commentaries and blog posts. Other sources described research or quality improvement initiatives but did not include details regarding data collection and analysis [42] or described a tool without detailing its evaluation or creation. [37]…”

“…Table 3 outlines the quality of the sources for realist review. Three papers included limited detail relating to theories of change, [36,38,42] with one providing sufficient detail. [22] Within the sources and their associated appendices, almost half described their HP in detail (n=6), five to some extent, and two provided no details.…”

Health Literacy and People with Intellectual Disabilities: What We Know, What We Do Not Know, and What We Need: A Theoretical Discourse

“…Particularly, a reduced understanding of speech and a reduced ability to communicate are stated. A reduced ability to communicate is characterized by short and incomplete sentences and altered semantics [17,18]. It has long been known that this has an impact on the access to information and leads to a lack of health-related knowledge [19].…”