Review Article Interventions to promote health: Crossing networks of intellectual and developmental disabilities and aging Tamar Heller, Ph.D., Dora Fisher, M.P.H. * , Beth Marks, Ph.D., and Kelly Hsieh, Ph.D. Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA Abstract Background: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities experience lower levels of healthy behaviors as do older persons, making health promotion a key priority for these populations. Objective: The aim of this paper is to review the two fields of developmental disability and aging health promotion research in order to understand strategies used by both and to identify emerging and innovative practices that disability researchers can learn from each other. Methods: We conducted scoping reviews of health promotion intervention peer reviewed articles in English from 1991 to 2011 for intellectual and developmental disabilities and from 2007 to 2011 for the more extensive gerontological literature. Two reviewers extracted data. Results: The disability review identified 34 studies and three main types of interventions: exercise, multi-component, and health screens. The aging review identified 176 articles which had a wider variety of intervention topics and techniques, with more articles including innovative approaches to bringing interventions to community settings across a wider variety of populations. Conclusions: As people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are living longer, disability health promotion can look to the aging literature for ideas to incorporate in future interventions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, while the geron- tological research can learn from the research in intellectual and developmental disabilities on ways to adapt health promotion interventions to people with cognitive and physical limitations. Use of universal design principles could enable greater inclusion of people with disabil- ities in health promotion interventions for the general aging population. Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Health promotion; Older adults; Intellectual disabilities; Aging; Developmental disabilities Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, defined as having three or more functional or mental limi- tations with the onset from age 22 or earlier or having an intellectual disability, 1 are living longer than in previous generations. However, they often experience poorer health and earlier onset of age related conditions 2 due to issues related to access to care and biological and lifestyle factors. 3 Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who make up an estimated six million people in the American population, experience osteoporosis and diabetes at an earlier age than the general population, along with higher levels of obesity, in part due to poor access to health promotion activities, disease prevention services, and health behaviors. 4,5 Various studies report low levels of physical activity, poor fitness, poor nutrition, and a higher risk of falls among adults with intellectual and develop- mental disabilities. 6e8 A review examining physical activity in this population found that only between 17.5% and 33% of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities engage in the standard recommended amount of physical activity. 9 In addition they experience greater health disparities in part due to lack of preventive health screenings. 10 Hence, as for the general population, pro- moting good health behaviors is a key priority for this pop- ulation. Yet, research on effective ways to promote their health is fairly limited. Older adults also experience low levels of healthy behav- iors. About 28%e34% of adults age 65e74 and 35%e44% of adults age 75 or older are inactive. 11 In recognition of this growing concern, health promotion for older adults is a comprehensively researched field with a wide range of interventions that have been well documented for decades. This document was produced under grant number H133B080009 awarded by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities e Lifespan Health and Function at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The contents of this article do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Depart- ment of Education, and should not be assumed as being endorsed by the U.S. Federal Government. * Corresponding author. Department of Disability and Human Devel- opment, University of Illinois at Chicago, Room 436, 1640 W Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL 60608, USA. Tel.: þ1 312 413 1647. E-mail address: theller@uic.edu (T. Heller). 1936-6574/$ - see front matter Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2013.06.001 Disability and Health Journal 7 (2014) S24eS32 www.disabilityandhealthjnl.com