Background Understanding the communication of people with profound learning and multiple disabilities provides a daily challenge to those supporting them. There are a number of guides and aids available to support this process, such as those developed through Mencap’s Involve Me project We recently posted the results of a small study looking at the relationship [read the full story…]
Background The Mental Capacity Act (2005) provides a legal framework for assessing capacity in individuals. Where an individual is shown not to have capacity to make a specific decision at a specific point in time, it also provides a framework for decisions to be made on behalf of that person, in that person’s best interest. [read the full story…]
Background Cost pressures on adult social care budgets continue, with evidence to the Select Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change suggesting that 85% of councils are implementing eligibility thresholds at ‘substantial’ or ‘critical’ needs. Adults with learning disabilities who are in receipt of adult social care support may need support for substantial periods and [read the full story…]
Background Recent events have highlighted the increased risk of abuse faced by people with learning disabilities. Local authorities regularly collect data on adult protection referrals and one study has looked at trends that have emerged from analysis of this data Last year, we posted about a study based on in-depth interviews focusing on the experience [read the full story…]
Evidence suggests there is a greater prevalence of mental ill-health in people with learning disabilities, although the extent of this difference varies from study to study. At present there has been little work enabling people with learning disabilities to recognise potential threats to their mental health and to help with the development of strategies to [read the full story…]
Criminology has used strain theory as a way of looking at how certain social structures within a society may produce pressure on citizens to commit crime, identifying strain as either structural, e.g. processed at the societal level ,or individual referring to difficulties experienced in moving towards satisfying needs There has been little attempt to use [read the full story…]
This paper reports the findings of a study exploring a new approach to treating the symptoms of depression in older African Americans. This a group of the population with very high levels of general health care needs – the result of a combination of factors including the USA’s political and social history but also modern [read the full story…]
This month in the woodland (and the Twittersphere) we’ve given you #MindfulnessMonday. It’s been our attempt to highlight some of the potential benefits that mindfulness can have on our mental well-being in a variety of different health conditions including breast cancer, depression and anxiety, and psychosis. This last #MindfulnessMonday blog examines the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress [read the full story…]
Previous work to consider the issue of older parents of adults with learning disabilities has identified that a significant proportion are lone carers, often with a wide range of health problems of their own, and reporting high levels of anxiety as a result of their caregiving responsibilities. The researchers in this study set out to [read the full story…]
Most of us have heard of cognitive dissonance although the term is often used incorrectly. I’m sure when you find out you thought you were using it correctly but weren’t, you’ll feel bad. Cognitive dissonance refers to a state of psychological discomfort that arises from conflicting attitudes or beliefs. For example you may have a [read the full story…]
