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

Abstract

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 11.34 years and half (53.5%) reported expertise in the area. One-fifth of psychiatrists reported IDDMH as their main area of practice. The majority of respondents (85.1%) reported that they were working clinically with people with IDD. Respondents practicing clinically worked a median of 8 hours in clinical and 3 hours in non-clinical IDD-related work per week.

Conclusions: Surveyed psychiatrists had considerable experience in IDDMH. However, their work in IDDMH represented a relatively small proportion of their overall work hours, and a minority of respondents were responsible for a large proportion of clinical work. Exploring ways to broaden capacity is crucial to ensuring the mental health needs of people with IDD are met.

Keywords: developmental disability; intellectual disability; mental health; psychiatry practice; psychiatry workforce.