Educating Medical Trainees on Mental Healthcare and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Many children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience mental health conditions and commonly receive treatment with psychotropic medications. Prescribers often overuse these medications in children with IDD, who are frequently treated with polypharmacy and antipsychotics, a trend that continues into adulthood. Medical trainees receive little training regarding the IDD patient population. This paper describes the development and evaluation of an evidence-informed, easy-to-use training curriculum. The 6-hour training establishes a foundation for medical trainees regarding the treatment of mental health conditions in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD-MH) as part of an integrated health, interdisciplinary treatment approach. An exploratory study was conducted to evaluate the training curriculum's effectiveness in improving knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The training was provided to 99 students including physician assistant students, medical students and psychiatry residents, along with child psychiatry fellows at three universities. Eighty-two participants completed pre- post-assessments and module evaluations. Participants reported overall satisfaction with the training. Findings indicate significant improvements across effectiveness measures.