Expert consensus on the operation of an adult tertiary intellectual disability mental health service in New South Wales, Australia.

Objective: To identify and reach consensus on the priorities and operation of an adult tertiary intellectual disability mental health service in New South Wales, Australia.

Method: An online Delphi consultation was conducted with 25 intellectual disability mental health experts.

Results: Participants agreed that the service should involve a multidisciplinary team and accept people with an intellectual disability aged over 15 years with complex needs and/or atypical presentations.

Has teaching about intellectual disability healthcare in Australian medical schools improved? A 20-year comparison of curricula audits.

Background: People with intellectual disability (ID) have multiple and complex health needs, more frequent healthcare episodes, and experience poorer health outcomes. Research conducted two decades ago showed that medical professionals were lacking in the knowledge and skills required to address the complex needs of this patient group. The aim of the current study was to determine whether Australian undergraduate medical schools that offer ID health education content had changed the amount and nature of such teaching over this period.

Clinical capacity of Australian and New Zealand psychiatrists who work with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Objective: To describe the characteristics and clinical capacity of Australian and New Zealand psychiatrists working in intellectual and developmental disability mental health (IDDMH).

Method: Consultant psychiatrists (n=71) with an interest or expertise in IDDMH completed an online survey about their roles, experience and time spent in intellectual developmental disability (IDD)-related activities.

Results: Psychiatrists had worked in IDDMH for a median of 11.

Subspecialty training pathways in intellectual and developmental disability psychiatry in Australia and New Zealand: current status and future opportunities.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the training experiences of and determine capacity to train future Australian and New Zealand psychiatrists working in intellectual and developmental disability mental health.

Methods: Australian and New Zealand psychiatrists with expertise or interest in intellectual and developmental disability mental health completed an online survey detailing their training pathway, support for subspecialty training and capacity to provide rotations in this area.

Results: Psychiatrists (=71) indicated the most common reasons they started practicing in intellectual and developmental disability mental health, and these included seeing people with intellectual or developmental disability in a service in which they worked, or personal experience with intellectual or developmental disability.

Intellectual disability content within tertiary medical curriculum: how is it taught and by whom?

Background: Individuals with intellectual disability experience higher rates of physical and mental health conditions compared with the general population, yet have inequitable access to health care services. Improving the workplace capacity of medical professionals to meet the needs of this population is one way to reduce barriers to care and improve health outcomes. Using diverse pedagogy appropriate to learning outcomes to teach medical students about intellectual disability is a necessary step in improving future workplace capacity.

Intellectual disability content within pre-registration nursing curriculum: How is it taught?

Background: Despite experiencing higher rates of physical and mental health conditions compared with the general population, people with intellectual disability face inequitable access to healthcare services. Improving education of healthcare professionals is one way to reduce these inequalities.

Objective: To determine how intellectual disability content is taught within Australian nursing schools.

Building workforce capacity in Australia and New Zealand: a profile of psychiatrists with an interest in intellectual and developmental disability mental health.

Objective:: To describe the characteristics of psychiatrists working in the area of intellectual and developmental disability mental health (IDDMH) across Australia and New Zealand.

Methods:: A secondary analysis of data collected by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2014 workforce survey. Characteristics of the IDDMH workforce ( n=146 psychiatrists) were compared with those of the broader psychiatry workforce ( n=1050 psychiatrists).

Automaticity of Attentional Bias to Threat in High and Low Worriers.

Individuals with high levels of worry are more likely than others to attend to possible threats, although the extent of top-down attentional control processes on this bias is unknown. We compared the performance of high ( = 26) and low worriers ( = 26) on a probe discrimination task designed to assess attention to threat cues, under cognitive load or no-load conditions. The expected difference between groups was confirmed, with high worriers being more likely to attend to threat cues than low worriers.

Intellectual disability health content within nursing curriculum: An audit of what our future nurses are taught.

Background: Individuals with intellectual disability experience chronic and complex health issues, but face considerable barriers to healthcare. One such barrier is inadequate education of healthcare professionals.

Objective: To establish the quantity and nature of intellectual disability content offered within Australian nursing degree curricula.

Delineating the Role of Negative Verbal Thinking in Promoting Worry, Perceived Threat, and Anxiety.

Worry is characterized by streams of verbal thoughts about potential negative outcomes. Individuals with high levels of worry (and particularly those with generalized anxiety disorder) find it very difficult to control worry once it has started. What is not clear is the extent to which verbal negative thinking style maintains worry.

Intellectual disability health content within medical curriculum: an audit of what our future doctors are taught.

Background: There is a high burden of unmet health needs for people with intellectual disability. Despite experiencing significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality compared with the general population, this group faces greater barriers to accessing healthcare. While increasing workplace capacity is one way to reduce this inequitable access, previous research indicates a scarcity of undergraduate teaching in intellectual disability.

The power of positive thinking: Pathological worry is reduced by thought replacement in Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Worry in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), takes a predominantly verbal form, as if talking to oneself about possible negative outcomes. The current study examined alternative approaches to reducing worry by allocating volunteers with GAD to conditions in which they either practiced replacing the usual form of worry with images of possible positive outcomes, or with the same positive outcomes represented verbally. A comparison control condition involved generating positive images not related to worries.

Protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of an online e-health application compared to attention placebo or sertraline in the treatment of generalised anxiety disorder.

Background: Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a high prevalence, chronic psychiatric disorder which commonly presents early in the lifespan. Internet e-health applications have been found to be successful in reducing symptoms of anxiety and stress for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, social phobia and depression. However, to date, there is little evidence for the effectiveness of e-health applications in adult GAD.

Protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of an online e health application for the prevention of Generalised Anxiety Disorder.

Background: Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder. Effective prevention in young adulthood has the potential to reduce the prevalence of the disorder, to reduce disability and lower the costs of the disorder to the community. The present trial (the WebGAD trial) aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based online prevention website for GAD.