This review of the literature sets out to look at developments in concepts and measures of family quality of life. The authors identify a developing trend from interventions for people with learning disabilities based solely on the individual’s special needs independent of the family and environmental context through to a position where these needs are [read the full story…]
Quality of life as a treatment outcome in services for people with learning disabilities and autism has received little attention in the literature. The researchers in this study combined quality of life measures with objective observations of challenging behaviours to evaluate outcomes for adults with learning disabilities and autism living in two different residential services. [read the full story…]
National policy in England has seen people with learning disabilities who were once residents of long stay hospitals move into community services. There have been many evaluations of these moves, locally and nationally. The authors of this study were interested in measurable factors such as quality of life and mortality. They looked at 521 adults with [read the full story…]
Many people with learning disabilities live in the family home, but few studies have focused on the issue of quality of life of such individuals. The researchers in this study set out to look at household and community activity for people living in the family home and compare this with those in out-of-family placements. The [read the full story…]
Personalisation is a cornerstone of policy for supporting people with learning disabilities. This study set out to look at the nature, purposes and outcomes of personalised residential supports from the perspectives of people with disabilities, family members and service providers, with a view to developing a quality framework for future evaluation. The researchers identified four [read the full story…]
The nature of the interaction between support staff and people with learning disabilities in supported housing is a key factor in quality of life. This study looked at the impact of a video-based contact programme on support staff’s interactions with clients. Seventy-two support staff who supported 12 individuals with visual and learning disabilities took part [read the full story…]
This paper describes the need for transparent and honest relationships with stakeholders in the process of reproviding a service. It highlights the role of audit and monitoring quality to determine the ‘health’ and effectiveness of services. Having a collaborative approach to addressing problems means that involvement is impolitic so stakeholders can offer feedback based on [read the full story…]
This study set out to investigate whether the triad of impairments and severe challenging behaviour had an impact on the lifestyle of adults living in staff-supported community housing using data collected on 427 adults living in 146 staffed houses. The authors found that after controlling for adaptive behaviour, there were no significant differences between those with [read the full story…]
