Limited concordance between teachers, parents and healthcare professionals on the presence of chronic diseases in ID-adolescents

Abstract

Evidence on teachers' knowledge about somatic and mental chronic diseases among ID-adolescent compared to the knowledge parents and healthcare professionals have, is limited. The aim of this study is: (1) to assess the knowledge of teachers on the presence of chronic diseases in ID-adolescents; (2) to compare teachers with parents and healthcare professionals and parents with healthcare professionals regarding the knowledge on the presence of chronic diseases in ID-adolescents. We obtained data on 1044 ID-adolescents attending secondary schools, fully covering one region of the Netherlands. Teachers, parents and general practitioners (GPs) of the adolescents completed a questionnaire about the occurrence of chronic diseases in their child during the previous 12 months. The questionnaire was derived from the Dutch National Permanent Survey on Living Conditions questionnaire periodically administered in a representative population sample (n ≈ 10,000). Concordance between teachers, parents and healthcare professionals on the presence of chronic diseases in ID-adolescents was relatively low. In about half of all 66 dyads the concordance was for the most part fair and just in 10 dyads good to very good; nine of these latter cases concerned somatic chronic diseases. In addition, teachers reported mostly lower prevalence rates of chronic diseases in ID-adolescents compared to the parents, in particular on mental chronic diseases. Although prevalence rates of chronic diseases among ID-adolescents are very high, knowledge on this among teachers is limited. While information on chronic diseases in ID-adolescents is available among different informants, the disagreement between them reflects different points of view between the informants and probably indicates a lack of communication. The communication among teachers, parents and GPs should be improved to combine the knowledge and information on the presence of chronic diseases in ID-adolescents. This may provide opportunities to improve the support of these adolescents in their school career and in their transition from school to work.

Contextual factors related to chronic condition in portuguese adolescents: highlights from the HBSC/WHO study

“…In addition, when designing and implementing school-based intervention programs, it seems important to promote school assets as important features on school satisfaction and academic achievement for all students and, in particular, for those more vulnerable to achieve success (Simões et al 2010). Building competences in adolescents with a CC, strengthening connectedness and a better communication within the family, school, peer group and health care professionals will enhance resilience and increase the opportunities to improve health outcomes in this population, creating opportunities to support their school and future professional career (Matos et al 2012a, b;Oeseburg et al 2010b).…”

Work-ability assessment in young adults with disabilities applying for disability benefits

“…Moreover, in a previous study by Oeseburg et al (2010) it was shown that knowledge of teachers regarding prevalence of co-morbidity and secondary conditions in their pupils is also restricted [41].…”

Expectations from Different Perspectives on Future Work Outcome of Young Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

“…In the final years at school preparations should start for a smooth transition from school to work, including practical job training and job orientation [40][41][42]. As mentioned before, special needs schools in the Netherlands provide vocational training and internships for young adults with disabilities in the final years at school and appropriate job placements in the transition from school to work.…”

“…which job placements would be suitable and which kind of support the young adult needs to be able to function well [2,3]. A review of transition programs for young people with disabilities found that schools should support their teachers in involving both students and their parents in these decision-making processes to achieve the desired employment outcome [40][41][42]. If teachers and parents work together with the student to prepare for the labour market, they may also influence the expectations of the young adult to become more realistic and achievable.…”

“…Besides parents, teachers play a critical role in the transition to employment, by substantially contributing to the educational achievements of students and the preparation of the young adult for the workforce [31,35,[40][41][42]. The NLTS-2 found that school staff had a strong influence on the career development of young adults with disabilities [35].…”