title: Intellectual disability health content within nursing curriculum: An audit of what our future nurses are taught.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Individuals with intellectual disability experience chronic and complex health issues, but face considerable barriers to healthcare. One such barrier is inadequate education of healthcare professionals.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish the quantity and nature of intellectual disability content offered within Australian nursing degree curricula.
  
  
  METHODS
  A two-phase national audit of nursing curriculum content was conducted using an interview and online survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Australian nursing schools offering pre-registration courses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pre-registration course coordinators from 31 universities completed the Phase 1 interview on course structure. Unit coordinators and teaching staff from 15 universities in which intellectual disability content was identified completed the Phase 2 online survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantity of compulsory and elective intellectual disability content offered (units and teaching time) and the nature of the content (broad categories, specific topics, and inclusive teaching) were audited using an online survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over half (52%) of the schools offered no intellectual disability content. For units of study that contained some auditable intellectual disability content, the area was taught on average for 3.6h per unit of study. Units were evenly distributed across the three years of study. Just three participating schools offered 50% of all units audited. Clinical assessment skills, and ethics and legal issues were most frequently taught, while human rights issues and preventative health were poorly represented. Only one nursing school involved a person with intellectual disability in content development or delivery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite significant unmet health needs of people with intellectual disability, there is considerable variability in the teaching of key intellectual disability content, with many gaps evident. Equipping nursing students with skills in this area is vital to building workforce capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN), School of Psychiatry, UNSW Australia, 34 Botany Street, Randwick, NSW 2052, Australia. Electronic address: j.trollor@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Julian N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Trollor
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN), School of Psychiatry, UNSW Australia, 34 Botany Street, Randwick, NSW 2052, Australia. Electronic address: c.eagleson@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eagleson
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN), School of Psychiatry, UNSW Australia, 34 Botany Street, Randwick, NSW 2052, Australia. Electronic address: beth-turner@live.com.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN), School of Psychiatry, UNSW Australia, 34 Botany Street, Randwick, NSW 2052, Australia. Electronic address: c.salomon@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Carmela
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Salomon
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Electronic address: Andrew.cashin@scu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cashin
authors.affiliation: La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, PO Box 199, Bendigo, VIC 3552, Australia. Electronic address: t.iacono@latrobe.edu.au.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iacono
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health and Learning Disabilities, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London SE1 0AA, United Kingdom. Electronic address: goddarl3@lsbu.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goddard
authors.affiliation: Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability, Mater Research Institute/The University of Queensland, Mater Hospitals, Raymond Terrace, South Brisbane, QLD 4101, Australia. Electronic address: n.lennox@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lennox
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000451:nursing*; D012579:Schools, Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Curriculum; Health inequalities; Intellectual disability; Nursing education