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Chapter 7170Combining knowledge and experience Integrating multiple sources of knowledge Providing medical-generalist care, including MH care, is a core value for GPs. GPs and their MHNPs need to have sufficient knowledge and skills to provide this care in a person-centred way. 1 For this, practitioners integrate multiple sources of knowledge: evidence-based knowledge from textbooks, guidelines, and scientific literature; experience-based knowledge grounded on expert opinion; information about the patient and the patient’s personal situation, values, and preferences; and information about the local setting and its possibilities and limitations. 40, 41 Practitioners in primary care are particularly adept at practicing this form of care. However, they also indicate that there is only limited evidence-based and experience-based knowledge available on patients with both MID and MH problems, resulting in a feeling of being insufficiently equipped to provide the care needed (Chapters 2 and 6). 42Evidence-based knowledgeThe limited evidence-based knowledge relates to limited scientific research in this field, 43 as well as the limited accessibility of this knowledge even when it is available (Chapters 2 and 6). 43 Although the number of publications on scientific studies involving people with both ID and MH problems in primary care has increased over the years, it is still limited and not specifically focused on people with MID (Chapter 2). The reasons for this are that (M)IDs are often inadequately included in general research on MH problems as they are a blind spot for researchers, or a low IQ is frequently an exclusion criterion for participation in scientific research. 43 In my opinion, this is unjustified, considering that 6.4% of the Dutch population has an MID and MH problems are highly prevalent in this group (Chapter 3). 44, 45Another reason, which I have also experienced myself as a researcher, is that individuals with MID are difficult to include in studies because the MID is not always known or registered as such (Chapters 3 and 4). A uniform registration of MID in primary care should make people, for whom the MID is known, more easily identifiable for researchers.Katrien Pouls sHL.indd 170 24-06-2024 16:26