Jenny Fisher takes on an Australian study about community development and how umbrella bodies work for networking between organisations and neighbourhoods. She considers the implications of the findings for the UK refers to some other helpful research on the topic.
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Around half of all people with a learning disability have epilepsy and there are significant concerns about the impact of non-compliance with prescribed medications, which is linked with increased morbidity.
In her debut blog, Jill Hughes reflects on a study which set out to see if there was a link between the living arrangements of people with learning disabilities and compliance with anti-epileptic medication regimes.
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Being engaged in our community at a level, with which we feel comfortable, could be a measure of the quality of our lives. But how do workers who support people with learning disabilities help them in ways, which can achieve this? What helps and what gets in the way?
Here, in her debut blog, Paula Hopes looks at a naturalistic observation study that looked at this issue in more detail.
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Some people with learning disabilities may find it difficult to learn social rules and behaviours, which can impact on involvement and engagement in their commnunities.
In her debut blog, Mandy Johnson looks at a project in the Republic of Ireland which set out to help people consider the desirability of a range of social behaviours and the complexities of social context.
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Children with learning disabilities are more likely to have challenging behaviours and as a result are more at risk of social exclusion, deprivation, physical harm and abuse.
In her debut blog, Alix Dixon considers the findings of a recent literature review of early interventions for children with challenging behaviours and their families.
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Individual Service Funds offer the opportunity for flexible, person centred responses by providers. But in order to achieve this flexibility, commissioners need to break down larger block contracts to make funds available.
Here, Nick Burton looks at an evaluation of such a disaggregation of funds that took place in the London Borough of Southwark.
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People with learning disabilities experience health inequalities compared to the general population, compounded by the number of health related problems thye may have related to having a learning disability.
Here, in her debut blog, Tara Quinn-Cirillo adds her reflections to an assessment of this incentivised scheme.
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Self injurious behaviour usually directly results in physical harm to an individual and can also seriously impact on their quality of life
Here, Kate van Dooren looks at a review of the literature relating to behavioural interventions for self-injurious behaviours, which sets out to consider the implications of this literature for training and managerial support.
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Laurence Palfreyman highlights a population study from researchers at Oxford University, which investigates the links between depression and violent crime. The study finds that people with depression were three times more likely to have been convicted of violent crime than those without depression, but we need to be careful about how we interpret these relative risk figures.
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Qualitative methods engaging and involving people with learning disabilities are becoming more established in the published media, but there is still room for improvement.
In her debut blog, Victoria Smillie looks at an exploration of these methods which sets out to understand how qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups, are represented in the published journals.
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