An investigation into the factors which influence attendance rates for psychology appointments in an adult intellectual disability service
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-01-2022-0007 |
| Published date | 31 August 2022 |
| Date | 31 August 2022 |
| Pages | 216-225 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities |
| Author | Luke Yates,Louise Brittleton,Nigel Beail |
An investigation into the factors which
influence attendance rates for psychology
appointments in an adult intellectual
disability service
Luke Yates, Louise Brittleton and Nigel Beail
Abstract
Purpose –This study aimsto investigate whether factors previouslyshown to influence attendance rates
for appointmentsin general practice and general mental health servicesalso influence attendance rates
in servicesfor people with intellectual disabilities (ID).
Design/methodology/approach –Post hoc datafrom 452 psychology appointments,ID diagnostic and
initial screening (triage) appointments were collected from the health-carefiles of a community adult ID
psychology service. Demographic factors (age, sex) and clinical factors (waiting time, time between
appointment invitationbeing sent and appointment being held, presenceof prior telephone call or letter,
type of appointment,weekday, month) were recorded along with the attendance outcome(attended/did
not attend [DNA]). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic wasalso explored by documenting whether
the appointmentpredated March 2020.
Findings –No significant associations were foundbetween any variable investigated and attendance
outcome whenanalysing appointment data as a whole and when splittingthe data between appointment
type. Weekday was found to significantlybe associated with attendance outcome for appointmentsheld
during COVID-19, in whichmore DNA appointments occurred on a Wednesday comparedto the other
days of the week. No other associations were found for appointments held during the COVID-19
pandemic or for appointmentsheld prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. These results suggest that factors
which influence attendance rates in general health-care settings do not necessarily generalise to ID
services.
Originality/value –To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine whether
certain demographic and clinical factors influenced attendance rates in an adult intellectual disability
service.
Keywords Intellectual disabilities, Attendance, Demographic factors, Clinical factors, DNA rate,
Psychology appointment
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In this current climate of staff shortages and staff absences due to the COVID-19 pandemic
it is evident that the National Health Service (NHS) is facing a crisis of resources (NHS
Confederation, 2021;The King’s Fund, 2021). Therefore, it is vital that services use their
resources, such as face-to-face appointments, as efficiently as possible. Service userswho
do not attend (DNA) their face-to-face appointments waste a valuable resource andclinical
time.
Clinical factors, such as longerwaiting times, have been found to be predictive of whether a
person would DNA their appointment. This has been shown in general practice (GP)
Luke Yates is based at the
Adult Specialist Learning
Disabilities Health Service,
South West Yorkshire
Partnership NHS
Foundation Trust, Barnsley,
UK. Louise Brittleton is
based at the Fieldhead
Hospital, South West
Yorkshire Partnership NHS
Foundation Trust, Barnsley,
UK. Nigel Beail is based at
the Adult Specialist
Learning Disabilities Health
Service, South West
Yorkshire Partnership NHS
Foundation Trust, Barnsley,
UK and Department of
Psychology, University of
Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Received 31 January 2022
Revised 4 July 2022
Accepted 13 August 2022
PAGE 216 jADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH ANDINTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES jVOL. 16 NO. 4 2022, pp. 216-225, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282 DOI 10.1108/AMHID-01-2022-0007
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