Health Promotion for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

This book is aimed at increasing professional and public awareness of the importance of health promotion activities for people with intellectual disabilities. People with intellectual disabilities suffer from significantly more health problems than the general population and are much more likely than other citizens to have significant health risks and major health problems. Nevertheless, there is considerable evidence that people with intellectual disabilities are not receiving the same level of health care or opportunities for health promotion activities as other members of society. There is a strong need to challenge this inequality as an important human rights issue. In highlighting the importance of health promotion for this overlooked section of the population, this book will offer health and social care professionals and family carers, the knowledge and strategies to address key issues thereby enabling and empowering individuals with intellectual disabilities to enjoy healthier lives. The publication will present a series of empirically-based review chapters highlighting the holistic health needs of people with intellectual disabilities across the life-span and in a variety of social contexts. It will examine how, psychological, physiological environmental, and cultural factors are involved in promoting the health and wellbeing of this vulnerable section of the population. Contributing authors will adopt a knowledge transfer approach to outline clear, evidence-based strategies for putting research evidence into practice for each of the topic areas covered. A particular strength of the publication will be the collaborative contribution from international, multi-disciplinary authorial teams. This has the potential to have significantly more impact and utility than uni-disciplinary and/or uni-national scholarly outputs. Additionally, extended market opportunities are created by having contributions from a wide-range of countries. Support and commitment to this publication has been established at the Conference of the International Association for Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (www.iassidd.org).