Background: The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) provides the benchmark for assessing human rights and citizenship for people with disabilities. This emphasises autonomy, choice, independence, equality and participation for individuals as its fundamental guiding principles. Methods: This paper explores the exercise…

Background: Good nutrition knowledge among carers of people with intellectual disability (ID) living in group homes is essential as they have a primary role in food provision for residents. Research on the nutrition knowledge of carers is limited. Method: This cross-sectional study assessed the level of general nutrition knowledge in a convenience…

Background: Assessment of intelligence and executive function (EF) is common in complex neuropsychiatric practice. Although previous studies have shown that EF and intelligence are related, it is unknown whether these constructs relate to one another in a similar manner across different ability groups (mild intellectual disability, borderline…

Background: Social difficulties are often noted among people with intellectual disabilities. Children and adults with 22q.11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) often have poorer social competence as well as poorer performance on measures of executive and social-cognitive skills compared with typically developing young people. However, the relationship…

People with intellectual disabilities (IDs) have been defined as "socially excluded" and policies of "social inclusion" invoked to counter this through a focus on paid work and independent living. For many people with IDs this is either not desired or not possible, and as a result many have sought out alternative spaces and activities of…

Introduction: The present study reports cross-cultural comparisons of body mass index (BMI) and growth in Prader-Willi syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with obesity, growth restriction and mild learning disability. Our objectives were to: (1) compare rates of obesity in adults with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) in France, with data…

Background: Staff explanations about challenging behaviours of people with intellectual disabilities are purported to play a significant role in the way they respond to them. Despite attempts made in research to understand the mechanisms of causality, a lack of association between attributions, emotions and behaviours is reported. This study…

Background: Studies have shown that staff who support adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) are exposed to challenging behaviour in their work including client aggression. Exposure to aggressive behaviour has been associated with staff stress and burnout. Study samples have been small however, and there has been very little data exploring…

Background: Existing research studies suggest that parenting a child with intellectual disabilities (ID) can be a stressful experience. However, there are few data addressing the question of how or why parents might experience considerable distress. In the present study, psychological variables (acceptance, mindfulness, avoidant coping) are…

Background: The Personalised Residential Supports (PRS) Project provided detailed information about the nature, purposes and outcomes of PRS from the perspectives of key stakeholder groups including people with developmental disabilities, family members and service providers. Although these forms of support have developed over the past two…

Objective: This article aims to describe the presence, content and implementation strategies of written policies on end-of-life decisions in Flemish residential care facilities (RCFs) accommodating persons with intellectual disabilities (ID), and to describe training, education and quality assessments of end-of-life care. Methods: A…

Background: Onsite standard care and remote telecare supports were provided to adults with intellectual disabilities living in integrated community settings and evaluated in terms of effectiveness as consumers completed a series of novel household activities. Methods: Using an alternating treatment design with baseline and follow-up conditions in…

Background: Families supporting children with complex needs are significantly more distressed and economically disadvantaged than families of children without disability and delay. What is not known is the associations and costs of parental psychiatric distress within a multi-diagnosis group of special needs children. Methods: In this…

Background: Literature on the prevalence of hypertension in people with intellectual disability (ID) is mostly based on file studies or on measurements limited to the age group below 50 years. We measured and calculated the prevalence of hypertension in adults with ID and studied the distribution of hypertension in relation to age, gender,…

Background: Although work stress can impede the capacity of direct support professionals and contribute to mental health challenges, external (i.e. work social support) and internal resources (i.e. an internal locus of control) have been shown to help DSPs cope more actively. We examined how work stress was associated with depression, with a…