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Unmet Needs of Adults in Community Mental Health Care With and Without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Abstract

The cross-sectional study compared the clinical and need profiles for clients with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in seven mental health case management programs in Toronto, Canada on March 31, 2013. Unmet needs in domains within four broad clusters were measured by staff using an internationally utilized tool, the Camberwell Assessment of Need. Among the 2560 clients, 8.3 % had a co-occurring IDD. For most assessed domains rates of unmet need were not different for persons with and without IDD. However, the IDD group had greater unmet needs for adaptive functioning/skills and cognitive needs [self-care (p = 0.023), education (p < 0.001), transportation (p < 0.001), and information on condition (p = 0.038)]. While clients with IDD and psychiatric diagnoses often receive poor quality care, in the case management programs examined their rates of unmet need were similar to individuals without IDD across most assessed domains, including in the areas of addictions and physical health care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA)–Toronto Branch, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Anna Durbin & Frank Sirotich

  2. Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Frank Sirotich

  3. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Yona Lunsky

  4. Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Yona Lunsky

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Yona Lunsky & Janet Durbin

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  1. Anna Durbin
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  2. Frank Sirotich
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  4. Janet Durbin
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Correspondence to Anna Durbin.

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Durbin, A., Sirotich, F., Lunsky, Y. et al. Unmet Needs of Adults in Community Mental Health Care With and Without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Cross-Sectional Study. Community Ment Health J 53, 15–26 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-015-9961-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-015-9961-6

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