Educational Materials
Brush My Teeth - Making Brushing Better
Life is not fair. For some people it is easy to stay healthy. For others, especially people who get help caring for themselves, it can be pretty hard. It is especially hard to keep your mouth healthy of you need help to do this.
As dental and disability experts we have seen our clients and patients develop unnecessary oral disability due to preventable oral diseases like gum disease, tooth decay and tooth loss. We have witnessed the unfairness of oral disease: people who need help have worse oral health and worse treatment outcomes compared to those who do not need help. What is most upsetting is that these diseases are preventable! Dental diseases can be prevented with the simple habit of effective and regular tooth brushing. So, we decided to help you all brush better by trying something new. We call it Brushmyteeth.ie.
Brushmyteeth.ieThe Oral Status Survey Tool (OSST)
The Oral Status Survey Tool (OSST) is a novel nine item tool that was developed with adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) to be quick, acceptable, robust and administered by well-trained dentists / non-dentists without scribe. The OSST was developed over five years via Trinity College Dublin and Dublin Dental University Hospital. The development team promote the sharing of the OSST under Creative Commons Licensing.
The version shared here is version 1 of the Health Evaluation Survey format of the OSST (OSST(v1)-HES), which distinguishes it from the self-reported Health Information Survey under development (OSST(v1)-HIS).
OSSTImproving Health Assessments for People with an Intellectual Disability
Detecting poor health and supporting people with an intellectual disability in managing their health can be challenging for healthcare professionals.
During this course, you will gain valuable knowledge that you can transfer into your daily practice on how to include people with an intellectual disability in health assessments. You will expand your knowledge through information and techniques underpinned by the world-leading longitudinal study on ageing and intellectual disability, the IDS-TILDA study. The course is structured over three weeks exploring in week 1 the health and wellbeing of adults with intellectual disability, week 2 explores best practices in communication with people with intellectual disability and week 3 present practical advice and demonstration on how to perform health assessment with reasonable adjustment.
Access Course HereGet Wise About Your Health
The Get Wise about your health project has co-created an innovative online platform in conjunction with people with intellectual disability. This education, delivered in an accessible easy-read manner, addresses two great difficulties people with intellectual disability experience in managing their own health. Firstly, due to greater health challenges, health needs are often unmet, resulting in significant health disparities globally. Secondly, people with intellectual disability have high levels of communication difficulties, with one in three reporting difficulty when talking to their healthcare professionals. Therefore, the need for reasonable adjustment when developing any form of education is essential. This project will empower individuals with intellectual disability with the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their own health and become more ‘health savvy. Module 1 -‘Getting wise about going to the doctor’ Module 2 -‘Get wise about your bone health’
Access Course HereHSE Head to Toe Assessment - My Health Check
Considering the evidence of poorer health outcomes for people with intellectual disability and their need to be supported in achieving national health strategy outcomes laid down by Healthy Ireland, it is prudent to ensure comprehensive health assessment are developed for individuals accompanied by educational supports. The HSE National Quality Improvement Committee, a working group instigating policy change within the field of intellectual disability with a specific focus on health assessment and people with intellectual disability developed an easy to administer head to toe comprehensive health assessment called ‘My Health Check’. This document provides carers a systematic and comprehensive approach to establishing the current health status and health needs for individuals with intellectual disability and can be accessed and downloaded here.
Access Health Check Here