Background: Despite humanistic declarations regarding the rights of people with intellectual disability to live a full, meaningful life, in practice, resulting from dilemmas experienced by direct support provides, support is often limited to a focus on functional independence. The aim of this research was to define the theoretical principles by…

Background: Across the life course, women and girls with learning disabilities and their carers report difficulties in accessing information and support with menstruation, yet their experiences are often overlooked in initiatives to improve menstrual health and wellbeing. Our aim was to collaborate with women with learning disabilities to…

Background: In people with intellectual disabilities and mental disorders and/or challenging behaviours, rates of psychotropic drug prescription are high. In clinical treatments and evaluations, all stakeholders should be involved in a process of shared decision-making (SDM). We aimed to investigate the perspectives of clients and their carers on…

Background: People with intellectual disabilities are experiencing increased longevity, and in parallel, their family caregivers are also ageing. The literature identifies that these caregivers are at risk of burden. The aim of this study was to measure the level of caregiver burden among older carers of adults with intellectual disabilities in an…

Background: Living with dementia is challenging, but poses unique difficulties for people with an intellectual disability. The process of dementia is also challenging for family, carers and friends. Materials and Methods: This study explores the impact of dementia on direct care staff using a focus group methodology. Thematic analysis was used to…

Background: This study looked to investigate the sometimes conscious and sometimes intuitive decision-making processes of Intensive Interaction practitioners. More specifically, this study set out to develop a rich description of how practitioners make judgements when developing a dynamic repertoire of Intensive Interaction strategies with people…

Background: Dementia prevalence rates are higher amongst people with learning disabilities than the general population. People with Down's syndrome are at even greater risk of developing dementia and of developing dementia at an earlier age. This study, conducted as part of a wider service evaluation, explored community learning disability team…

Background: Despite experiencing health inequalities, people with intellectual disabilities are under-represented in health research. Previous research has identified barriers but has typically focused on under-recruitment to specific studies. This study aimed to explore care staff's attitudes to health research involving people with intellectual…

Background: The prevalence of obesity, inactivity and related morbidity and mortality is higher amongst people with intellectual disabilities than in the population in general, an issue of global concern. This research examined the perspectives of people with intellectual disabilities and their carers, on exercise and activity. Materials and…

Background: The term "intellectual disability" is increasingly used to refer to people with learning disabilities in British learning disability policy, practice and research. This change is undoubtedly a reflection of the changing international context. The inclusion of the term "intellectual disability" has been particularly…

This study from the south-western United States investigated the perceptions of persons with intellectual disability receiving support and of persons providing support regarding the autonomy of people with intellectual disability. The participants included 10 people with intellectual disability and 10 support workers. Through interviews, this…

Background: This study investigated whether care staff's causal attributions and emotional reactions to the challenging behaviour displayed by service users were influenced by the service user's diagnostic label. Materials and Method: One hundred and twenty care staff were randomly allocated to one of three conditions. Participants viewed a video…

Staff beliefs about self-harm can influence staff responses to the behaviour. Existing research into staff beliefs about self-harm by people with learning disabilities is limited, with qualitative research restricted to forensic services. The aim of this study was to use Q-methodology to explore staff beliefs about why people with learning…

This study explores front-line staff knowledge and perceptions of how people with intellectual disability residing in residential services are supported to communicate effectively. Participants ("n" = 138) completed a self-report questionnaire adapted from an instrument developed by DeSimone & Cascella (2005) "Journal of…

It is well established that people with Down's syndrome are more likely to develop dementia than other people and that onset of dementia is likely to occur earlier at an earlier age. The article reports on a specialist service for people with Down's syndrome and dementia. The service has offered dementia screening and assessment to people with…