How a Community of Practice (COP) can Promote Good Bone Health and Falls Awareness in Persons with an Intellectual Disability Authors .L. Ledger, A. Spencer and D. Rodger - St Michaels House, Ireland; St Marys Hospital HSE, Ireland

Issued on October 4 2019

How a Community of Practice (COP) can Promote Good Bone Health and Falls Awareness in Persons with an Intellectual Disability

1. Ledger¹, A. Spencer¹ and D. Rodger²

¹St Michaels House, Ireland; ²St Marys Hospital HSE, Ireland

Introduction: The Intellectual Disability Supplement to The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS‐TILDA) highlighted reduced bone density, osteoporosis and falls related injuries as a health concern for persons with an intellectual disability (TILDA‐IDS 2011, 2014, 2017, TCD). Incidence of osteoporosis and osteopenia are higher when compared to the general population. Due to a deficit in educational material targeting this population on bone health www.happybones.ie was developed.

Methods: A Dublin based COP inclusive of service users and their families was established to address important aspects of bone health and falls awareness.

The web site created by an educational technologist hosts differing media resources relating to bone health and falls safety which service users were involved in the development of.

Results: The website has been viewed 6500 times during the past year. Happy Bones has empowered service users to promote the resource amongst their peers, at many events locally and nationally, providing lifestyle advice promoting happy healthy bones.

Implications: Happy Bones has generated interest nationally and internationally highlighting the requirement for proactive screening of bone health and the development of treatment protocols to support effective bone health management. In addition the value of peer to peer support is emerging and is an opportunity for future research.

Keywords Bone Health, Falls Awareness, Education, Community of Practice