Normally here at WELD, we are in the business of reporting research findings and drawing attention to the evidence. However, two new research projects caught our eye this week as they are to do with subjects we have previously posted about. Both projects are looking for people to get in touch with their experiences, so [read the full story…]
Getting information from people with learning disabilities about their health is often done through discussions with professionals and carers. The authors of this study wanted to know more about the health problems people with learning disabilities themselves reported and whether there were differences from what their carers’ reported. They explored this by carrying out a [read the full story…]
We posted last week about the challenges faced by people with learning disabilities and diabetes. This New Zealand study looked at the additional challenges associated with self-management, which for people who do not have learning disabilities is encouraged. As the authors point out, this requires understanding of the disease and the implications of the actions [read the full story…]
Learning Disability Partnership Boards were established as a result of the Valuing People White Paper to work within the overall framework of local strategic partnerships to oversee inter-agency planning and service development. Crucial to the success of partnership boards was that the membership should be multi stakeholder, to include service users, carers, senior representatives from [read the full story…]
There are a number of studies that have shown increased prevalence of overweight and obesity in people with learning disabilities. This qualitative study set out to consider the underweight status. The prevalence of underweight is also relatively high in people with learning disabilities, but as the authors state, it is not clear from the literature [read the full story…]
There is now significant evidence of under-diagnosed, inadequately managed preventable health conditions in people with learning disabilities and we have posted previously about this as well as drawing attention to a US study that found people with learning disabilities had significantly higher prevalence of diabetes than adults with no disability: 19.4% vs. 3.8%. Despite this, [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…]
In this US study, the authors looked at the prevalence of obesity in people with learning disability and those in the general U.S. adult population without learning disability. They found that adults with learning disability did not differ from the general population in prevalence of obesity. However, when they combined obesity and overweight they found [read the full story…]
One of the components of policy to improve the health of people with learning disabilities is the recommendation that people should receive annual health checks. Following the introduction of a Direct Enhanced Service in England in 2008 to deliver annual health checks, progress has been made in increasing access to checks across primary care trusts [read the full story…]
