Assessing the Confidence of Australian Mental Health Practitioners in Delivering Therapy to People With Intellectual Disability.

Research supports the use of psychological therapies among people with mild to moderate intellectual disability (ID). One barrier to people with ID accessing psychological treatments is the confidence of mental health practitioners. This article explores the confidence of Australian clinicians in providing therapy to people with ID. One hundred and fifty-two psychologists and counselors in Australia completed a survey exploring self-reported confidence when working with clients who have ID and mental health difficulties. Clinicians were most confident with generic counseling skills, but less confident with elements of assessments and interventions. The use of treatment protocols was endorsed as helpful particularly among those with low confidence. This highlights the need for dissemination of treatment guides and training to help increase clinician confidence.