Project Overview

People with intellectual disability have poor oral health outcomes due to limited access to preventive oral health care. Reliance on others, such as paid disability support workers who are often poorly trained, means that their oral health care and support needs are often overlooked, and rarely addressed in research, policy and practice. This complex intervention will use co-creation principles to work in partnership with people with intellectual disability and their caregivers to develop, implement and evaluate Australia's first workforce model - a multi-media education and action resource - to advance preventive oral health care for people with intellectual disability. First, using an innovative, tested Artificial Intelligence enabled digital platform, the team will profile the oral health status of people with intellectual disability, to clearly understand the personal and service-context factors that predict different oral health outcomes. This will include an economic evaluation of how much 'business as usual' costs. These findings will inform the co-creation of an online holistic education and action resource for disability support workers that will be adaptable for people with diverse support and oral health needs.

Next, the resource will be implemented across the team’s disability service partners, with embedded process, impact and cost-benefit evaluation. Anticipated outcomes will include better oral health knowledge among people with intellectual disability and disability support workers, improved oral health practices, earlier identification of oral health problems, and appropriate referral to oral health services. Partnerships with disability services, government and peak bodies will ensure national access and sustainability of the resource. This project will lead to better preventative oral healthcare for people with intellectual disabilities, build workforce capacity and provide an accessible national oral health resource.