Background: The strength of practice leadership predicts the quality of Active Support but it can be compromised by other demands on frontline managers. The study aimed to identify and understand differences in practice leadership over time and between organisations. Method: Data collected in 2022 in 96 services from 11 organisations using the…

Background: Adults with intellectual disability are at higher risk of being administered psychotropic medications. The UK-developed SPECTROM (Short-term PsychoEducation for Carers To Reduce Over Medication of people with intellectual disabilities) training programme educates disability support workers on psychotropic medications and alternatives…

Background: Parents with intellectual disability experience high rates of child removal, which affects their well-being. Method: Participatory action research (PAR) was undertaken with eight parents with intellectual disability who had children removed from their care. Parents were interviewed before and after the PAR. Three themes emerged: a safe…

Background: Australian disability services must comply with quality standards defined by federal government. Standards are abstract, focus on paperwork and rarely describe what good service quality looks like in practice. This research explored frontline day service staff's perceptions of good service quality to identify ways that it may be better…

Background: Through the filtering of information, the creation, and reinforcement of stereotypes, media moulds attitudes and set agendas on critical social issues including public policy and disability. Methods: This study explored Australian media representations of the care of people with intellectual disability during a crucial period in…

Background: Front-line managers play an important role in managing the performance of staff working in services for people with intellectual disability, but little is known about the practices they prefer to use to improve staff performance and whether these align with what research has shown to be effective. Method: This study comprised two…

Background: There is broad consensus within the disability field that the end-of-life care offered to people with intellectual disabilities should be of a quality consistent with that advocated by contemporary palliative care. In practice, however, various barriers are encountered when applying palliative care strategies to the end-of-life care of…

Background: News media frames public perceptions. As such, news media becomes a useful source of analysis to understand the presence (or otherwise) of people with disabilities, particularly intellectual disabilities, within parenting discourses in Australia. Method: Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this article examines major Australian…

Background: The aim of this study was to explore parents' experiences and strategies used when meeting the needs of all their children, including an adolescent with disabilities. Materials and methods: A qualitative study design was employed. The study was conducted in two phases. (i) Secondary analysis of ecocultural interviews with 12…

Background: This qualitative study describes parents' and service providers' experiences in using the Family Goal Setting Tool (FGST). This article looks specifically at the tool's perceived clinical utility during annual, collaborative goal setting. Methods: Participants included eight parents and ten service providers involved in a Family and…

Background: Quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities has been reported in the research literature across differing demographics. There has been, however, little research that has examined in-depth the experiences of women with intellectual disabilities aged 40 years or older. Materials and methods: Fifty-five women from Sydney,…

Background: Promoting self-determination is recognized to be an essential element of disability service provision; however, the extent to which older people with intellectual disability working in supported employment are enabled to make intentional decisions about retirement is not well understood. Methods: This research explored the views of…

Background: Associations among cognitive development and intrapersonal and environmental characteristics were investigated for 89 longitudinal study participants with Down syndrome to understand developmental patterns associated with cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Materials and Methods: Subtest scores of the Stanford-Binet IV collected…