We have posted elsewhere on the blog about some of the issues faced by people responding to the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act. The author of this paper set out to clarify the differences between the terms’ capacity’ and ‘competence’ as used in the Act, in order to help practitioners, people with disabilities and [read the full story…]
The researchers in this study were interested in looking at the extent to which a diagnosis of learning disability met current diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM) diagnostic criteria. They wanted to know the prevalence of reported autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and the extent to which the assessment of developmental issues was seen [read the full story…]
The authors of this study set out to look at whether trauma treatment had been successfully used with people with learning disabilities and substantially limited verbal capacities. They found no case studies in the literature. The article describes and assesses the applicability of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) a trauma therapy based on the [read the full story…]
Since the formation in 1998 of the palliative care for people with learning disabilities network, there has been some work bringing together service providers and carers to enable better co-ordination of care for the benefit of people with learning disabilities who have palliative care needs. However, there is still a lack of research into the [read the full story…]
Following our posting of the systematic review into the efficacy of annual health checks for people with learning disabilities, this study reports on a project that was run in 2010 by a researcher working with a self-advocacy group in Oxfordshire. The team looked at the implementation of Annual Health Checks for people with learning disabilities in [read the full story…]
Based on the ‘Health Inequalities and People with Learning Disabilities in the UK’ report this document looks at ways to put the evidence base into practice to improve health outcomes for people with learning disabilities. The report looks at what is known about the social determinants of poorer health in people with learning disabilities, increased [read the full story…]
Stress associated with working to support people with learning disabilities has been reported as a factor in staff burnout. This review of literature aimed to investigate whether there was a relationship between organisational climate and staff burnout. The search identified 21 articles which were included in the review. These were separated into two categories. The [read the full story…]
Protection of vulnerable adults has received increasing attention in recent years. This study set out to identify the views of support staff about what vulnerability means and how this might impact on their practice. The author used data from a previous study in which support staff views had been explored. The author used semi-structured interviews [read the full story…]
Modernisation of social care and the move towards personalisation have opened up opportunities for people with learning disabilities to take control of their supports through using individual budgets to employ supports. This study set out to look at the impact of this policy change on people with learning disabilities and their families employing their own [read the full story…]
A number of recent inquiries have highlighted the concern that people with learning disabilities may on occasion be denied access to their basic human rights. The authors of this study set out to explore this concern in relation to approaches to risk management taken in services, which they suggest may focus too much on professional [read the full story…]
