congress
20/04/2011
AGING AND QUALITY OF LIFE: MODELS OF INTERGRATED INTERVENTION FOR PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND/OR BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS
This was the title of the conference which was held on Wednesday, April 13 in the 20-21 classroom teaching pole at the University of Udine. During the meeting were presented the results of the national research project Prin 2007 coordinated by Lucio Cottini, professor of teaching and special education at University of Friuli (Italy). The research set out «to develop, on the one hand, a computerized evaluation system that would allow one to investigate the cognitive impairment and lifestyles of older people with Intellectual Disability (DI) or behavioral problems determined by other causes and, on the other hand, to outline an integrated model of intervention between various expertise». The project has committed to two years three units of research at the University of Udine, Perugia and the Biomedical Campus of Rome.
The extension of life expectancy in recent decades in the population with disabilities carries more new and stringent challenges for those who work in the health, rehabilitation and education field.
In the field of ID, where it is impossible to think of a recovery as a return of functional abilities similar to those of most people, the problem of diagnosis and treatment intervention is closely related, even more than in other medical conditions, to efforts to improve the QoL. Committing to meet the needs of people with ID means first of all to be able to measure, with sufficient accuracy, the distance that exists between individual expectations in various areas of life and reachable treatment goals. In case of incompatibility of interests, this effort should also allow to identify and give priority to areas of greater importance and those able to offer more satisfaction.
This article has been translated and adapted to English (American) by Sara Robicheau
Micaela Piva Merli e Marco Bertelli
