Progressive Needs of Patients with Intellectual Disabilities in Aging: Exploratory Study by Health Professionals in Italian Residential-Care Organization

Objective: The research project aimed to examine the views and perspectives of community workers for older people with intellectual disabilities (≥50 years), with the aim of exploring and documenting the most important support needs in all Quality domains of life of their old patients with intellectual disabilities. Methods: N.113 participants are working as health professionals in the residential-care organizations for people with intellectual disabilities in Italy. A survey online on the QoL model was developed exploring following domains: Personal development, Self-determination, Interpersonal relationships, Social inclusion, Rights, Emotional wellbeing, Physical well-being, Material well-being and Existential well-being. Results: According to the participants, older people with intellectual disabilities experience support needs in all 8 examined QoL domains: all of them seemed high relevance. The support needs within the domains of emotional well-being, physical well-being, were rated as being of the greatest importance for this population, whereas those within the domains of personal develoment, existensial wellbeing, social inclusion were rated as being least important from almost invovled pofessionals. Conclusions: The increasing of longevity and applying lifestile medicine, the clinical and social community is detecting the need to support better and funciotnally that patients; the other part, the managing of people with intellectual disabilities experience in dedicated community could be impacted negatively to the age-related difficulties as well leading to augmentation and changes in their daily support needs.