Rethinking Prevention for People with Disabilities Part II: A Framework for Designing Interventions

In this paper, we draw on a conceptual model for promoting the health of people with disabilities. 1 We present a method for designing health promotion and preventive services protocols that are inclusive of and sensitive to people with disabilities. These interventions include clinical preventive services for individuals and communitybased health promotion strategies. Changes in health care delivery in the United States, most notably managed care with restrictions on specialty referral, place an unprecedented emphasis on prevention as well as on the assessment of outcomes. To promote the health of people with disabilities, traditional strategies of prevention must be tailored more closely to their needs and demands. Traditional concepts of prevention have emphasized primary prevention of disease and impairments that lead to disability. The goals and the approach to prevention change, however, when considering people with disabilities, that is, people born with an impairment, people injured during the life course who cannot recover function, or people who incur disabilities associated with the onset and course of chronic conditions. ~