Qualitative evaluation of a physical activity health promotion programme for people with intellectual disabilities in a group home setting

Abstract

Background There is a lack of health promotion programming designed to change the physical activity environment of the group home setting. The Menu‐Choice programme assists staff in creating physical activity goals alongside residents with intellectual disabilities and provides strategies to incorporate activity into the group home schedule. The purpose of this study was to complete a process evaluation of Menu‐Choice utilizing qualitative methods. Methods Twelve participants, who completed a 10‐week pilot intervention (n = 7 staff, mean age 42; n = 5 residents, mean age 52), participated in face‐to‐face interviews. Participants represented five group home sites involved in the intervention. Results Meta‐themes included: (i) Programme training, (ii) Programme implementation, (iii) Programme physical activity, (iv) Programme barriers, (v) Programme facilitators and (vi) Programme feedback. Conclusions Changes in programme training and simplified programme materials are needed to accommodate identified barriers for implementation. The importance of obtaining increased agency support and policy change is highlighted.

Facilitators and Barriers of Participation in “Uptime” Activities in Girls and Women With Rett Syndrome: Perspectives From Parents and Professionals

“…The organizational facilitators (e.g., establishing daily routines, structured programs, and creative strategies) were aligned with findings in children and adults with Down syndrome (DS) (Barr & Shields, 2011;Mahy, Shields, Taylor, & Dodd, 2010). Many previous studies have identified organizational barriers such as limited time, staffing issues, and less priority being given to physical activity (Bossink et al, 2017;Dixon-Ibarra et al, 2018;Shields et al, 2012), which we also found across settings. In a residential setting, a limited health promotion focus was found to hinder healthy lifestyle behaviors in adults with ID (O'Leary, Taggart, & Cousins, 2018).…”

Improving healthcare access for older adults with intellectual disability: What are the needs?

“…In addition to the barriers to accessing health care, older adults with intellectual disability have difficulties participating in activities that promote healthy lifestyles, such as physical exercise and nutritional programmes (Bigby, ; Dixon‐Ibarra, Driver, Nery‐Hurwit, & VanVolkenburg, ), which is exacerbated for people living in rural areas (Wark et al, ). Likewise, older adults with intellectual disability are not given appropriate information about the changes and alterations that they may experience as they age, which constitutes a major barrier to both self‐determination and the development of effective primary prevention strategies (Hosking et al, ).…”

“…Few published studies have specifically focused on the barriers to health care of older adults with intellectual disability. When researchers have examined the healthcare access of older adults with intellectual disability, it has been done by focusing on specific neurological conditions such as dementia (Axmon et al, ), problems with specific public health interventions targeting older adults (Bigby, ; Dixon‐Ibarra et al, ; Heller et al, ; Heller & Sorensen, ; Wark et al, ), early mortality (Hahn et al, ; Hosking et al, ) or factors contributing to frailty within this group (McKenzie, Martin, & Ouellette‐Kuntz, ).…”

What works in community health education for adults with learning disabilities: A scoping review of the literature

“…Two papers about the same study authored by Dixon‐Ibarra, Driver, VanVolkenburg, and Humphries (2017), Dixon‐Ibarra, Driver, Nery‐Hurwit, and VanVolkenburg (2018), two by Feldman et al. (2012, 2016) and two by Bergström et al.…”

“…Individual motivations and abilities are another important contextual component of successful learning, and this is reflected in the learning theory used by some of the programmes in this review. Several studies suggested that the motivations, abilities and interests of participants can affect learning outcomes (Bergström et al., 2013; Dixon‐Ibarra et al., ,,2017, 2018; Witton et al., 2017). In a review of a dental ambassador programme, Witton et al.…”