Abstract:
For years institutionalization has been the primary method of service delivery for
persons with developmental disabilities (DD). However, in Ontario the last institution
was closed on March 31, 2009 with former residents now residing in small, communitybased homes. This study investigated potential predictors of primary health care
utilization by former residents. Several indirect measures were employed to gather
information from 60 participants on their age, health status, adaptive functioning level,
problem behaviour, mental health status and, total psychotropic medication use. A direct
measure was used to gather primary health care utilization information, which served as
the dependent variable. A stepwise linear regression failed to reveal significant predictors
of health care utilization. The data were subsequently dichotomized and the outcomes of
a logistic regression analysis indicated that mental health status, psychotropic medication
use and, an interaction between mental health status and health status significantly
predicted higher primary health care usage.
