The Impact of Living Situation on Healthcare Encounters for Individuals With Intellectual Disability

Introduction The living situation of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) has evolved throughout the years and ranges from living at home with family caregivers to group homes to independent living arrangements. Living situations can affect access to care and thus healthcare utilization seen by healthcare encounters for individuals with ID. Methods The researchers conducted a chart review of 112 patients to assess demographics, living situations, and healthcare encounters between 2019 and 2021. Living situation categories included independent, biological family, group home, home with other support, and others. Statistical analyses were conducted using R version 4.2.1 (The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). Univariable analyses consisted of the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality, Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test, and pairwise Wilcoxon rank sum test with multiple comparisons correction using the Bonferroni method. Statistical testing for multivariable analysis included the Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test, Spearman's rank correlation, and the negative binomial model. Results Results showed a statistically significant difference in median total encounter value between independently living individuals with ID compared to all other living situations, Χ² = 4.230, df = 1, p-value = 0.040. Additionally, there is a significant association between medication count and total encounter count, rho = 0.341, S = 154322, p-value < 0.001. Conclusion The study showed that individuals with ID who live independently have fewer healthcare encounters compared to all other living situations. This may be due to various factors such as increased autonomy and free choice, increased barriers to healthcare, or better overall health requiring less medical attention in independently living individuals with ID.