The authors of this qualitative study were interested in looking at the experiences of growing up with a brother or sister with an autism spectrum disorder from the perspective of their siblings. What they did was carry out a number of semi-structured interviews with 12 typically developing adolescents who had a brother with an autism [read the full story…]
In recent years, a number of studies have begun to explore bereavement and grief in people with learning disabilities. Hollins and Esterhuyzen (1997) for example in the late 1990s reported the results of a matched control group study into the reaction of people with learning disabilities to bereavement, which found highly significant differences significant differences [read the full story…]
Talk to any manager who leads a team supporting people with learning disabilities and ask about what are the key features impacting on performance and the conversation will turn to team culture. However, clearly defining culture in way that is amenable to study in research has a number of difficulties and so whilst it recurs [read the full story…]
People with Down syndrome are more likely to develop dementia than those without and indeed this is more likely to occur at an earlier age, where clinical symptoms can occur when people are in their late 40s or early 50s. There is also some evidence that there are some differences in clinical symptoms in people [read the full story…]
Studies have shown that women with learning disabilities are less likely than those without disabilities to have access to cervical and breast cancer screening services as set out in the relevant clinical guidelines. The team at Improving Health and Lives, the learning disabilities public health observatory (LDPHO) reported that reasonable adjustments were not being made [read the full story…]
Whilst there has been significant progress in recent years in acknowledging the rights of people with learning disabilities to live their lives in the way they choose, responding to the right to be sexually active continues to throw up challenges for services and families. Part of the difficulty is that people with learning disabilities may [read the full story…]
Here at Elf Towers, we strive to bring you the best evidence from published studies, but from time to time, we have the opportunity to talk to you about research that is just getting underway. One such research project is being run by our friends at the Norah Fry Research Centre who are about to [read the full story…]
People with learning disabilities are living longer. The Royal College of Nursing website suggests that over the course of the last century, life expectancy for this group has increased significantly, with mean life expectancy estimated to be 74, 67 and 58 for those with mild, moderate and severe learning disabilities respectively. The researchers in this [read the full story…]
In the late 1990s, a group of people concerned about the quality of palliative care being offered to people with learning disabilities started a voluntary organiation now known as the PCPLD Network. The work of the network has raised awareness of the issue and also supported the research agenda into this topic. This current qualitative [read the full story…]
There is an increasing focus on how organisations that support people with learning disabilities can move to a position where they can deliver personalised services. In Control has provided a range of reports on the evaluation of the use of personal budgets and a recent publication by Helen Sanderson Associates, Creating Person Centred Organisations has [read the full story…]
