Background: Dysphagia can have serious health implications including choking and respiratory infection leading to poorer quality of life. People with intellectual disabilities are at higher risk of dysphagia related health complications and early death. Robust dysphagia screening tools are vital for this population. Method: A scoping review and…

Background: Adults with intellectual disabilities often display behaviour that challenges that is a result of biological differences, psychological challenges, and lack of appropriate social support. Intensive Support Teams (IST) are recommended to support the care needs of this group and avoid hospitalisation. However, little attention has been…

Introduction: Incidence rates for developing breast cancer are similar for women regardless of intellectual ability. However, women with an intellectual disability present with advanced breast cancers, which often have a poor prognosis. Method: A structured narrative review of the literature was performed to explore the concepts of breast…

Background: Adolescents with intellectual disabilities are insufficiently physically active. Where interventions have been developed and delivered, these have had limited effectiveness, and often lack a theoretical underpinning. Aim: Through application of the COM-B model, our aim is to explore the factors influencing adolescent physical activity…

Background: Taking a trauma informed care approach has demonstrated positive outcomes for services for people in the general population. Given the increased vulnerability to psychological trauma for adults with an intellectual disability, this study explores what residential staff know about trauma and trauma informed care. Methods: Thirty-two…

Background: People with an intellectual disability are more vulnerable to psychological trauma compared with the general population. The aim of this scoping review was to identify the current status of the literature on trauma that is specific to the experiences of adults with an intellectual disability, living in community settings. Methods: A…

Background: Obesity is higher in people with intellectual disabilities. Aims: There are two aims of this explorative paper. Firstly, using a realist lens, to go beyond 'what works' and examine the 'context, mechanisms and outcomes' (CMO) of lifestyle/obesity programmes for this population. Second, using a logic model framework to inform how these…

Aim: This article explores ways of maximising engagement of intellectual disability staff as research participants, research advisers and research implementers. Method: The authors describe and reflect on a three-phased strategy in recruiting front-line staff (n = 690) working for intellectual disability service providers (n = 25) to participate…

Background: Globally, conducting randomised controlled trials can be a complex endeavour. The complexity increases when including participants with cognitive or intellectual disabilities. A fuller understanding of the barriers and challenges that can be expected in such trials may help researchers to make their trials more inclusive for people…

Background: Illness and death are part of life for everyone, including people with intellectual disabilities. This study investigated the extent to which staff communicate about death with people with intellectual disability facing terminal illness or bereavement. Method: Staff who support people with intellectual disability in the UK (n = 690)…

Background: Trauma and its sequelae is recognised as a major morbidity factor in people with intellectual disabilities, however, a lack of inquiry into how health care professionals address trauma in this adult population exists. Aims: To explore specialist intellectual disability practitioners perspectives on current health provision and…

The transformational role education plays in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities has not been fully examined. The purpose of this study was to explore and investigate the meanings people with intellectual disabilities construct of their experiences in post-secondary and higher education. Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology was…

Background: The health-related behaviours of people with intellectual disabilities may be determined by organisational influences. This innovative study aimed to explore managers' and staffs' perspectives on organisational influences on the promotion of healthy behaviours for this population. Method: A qualitative methodology was employed. Four…

Including the inner perspectives of people who have intellectual disability can pose methodological challenges to qualitative researchers. This article explains how the Listening Guide was applied as an additional step in the analysis during a study which used hermeneutic interviews with people with intellectual disability as the sole method of…

The provision of an annual health check for adult persons with an intellectual disability is intended to counter the health inequalities experienced by this population. This study documents the uptake of checks across general practitioner (GP) practices in Northern Ireland over a 3-year period. In all, 84% of GP practices provided health checks…