In 2006, the Department of Health produced a report called ‘Let Me I’m a Researcher’, which was designed to inform the debate about best practice in working with people with disabilities to co-produce topic areas, aims, objectives and approaches in research that involved them. Involving people with learning disabilities in the production and delivery of research [read the full story…]
Following on from the publication of the NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare and the NHS Atlas for Children and Young People, there is now an atlas which looks at the variations in social care services across England. The report, put together by Health Mandate, focuses on four main outcomes: Enhancing quality of life for [read the full story…]
Previous research has suggested that the likelihood of experiencing mental health problems is increased in children and young people with learning disabilities if they also have autism. The researchers in this study were interested in looking at symptoms of anxiety in this population, hypothesising that they may experience symptoms of anxiety at a greater level [read the full story…]
The short answer is we don’t know, but trials are underway that might help answer this question. Postnatal depression often affects women in the first 3 months after giving birth and symptoms can range from low mood and loss of interest in daily activities to thoughts of suicide. There are a range of effective treatments [read the full story…]
Physical interventions are still widely used in learning disability services, with BILD estimating their use in around half of all people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. The experience of people with learning disabilities of such interventions is not something that has been reported widely in the literature, but the researchers in this study set [read the full story…]
One of the key findings of the early research into community services for people with learning disabilities who had lived in long stay institutions, was that the quality of first line management was one of the main factors affecting outcomes. This Australian study set out to look at the work of front-line managers in supported [read the full story…]
End of life care is an emotive subject and perhaps none more so than in people with dementia where it can be particularly difficult to ensure that individuals get the care they want in the final months of their life. Both the Department of Health and NICE have published guidance in this area and this [read the full story…]
Positive behavioural support (PBS) recognises the importance of understanding the basis of why someone is exhibiting a behaviour that is challenging, and that there is a need to consider both proactive and reactive strategies in developing interventions. There has been a good deal reported in the literature about the training needs of paid carers in this [read the full story…]
Fish oil supplements are big business. The worldwide omega-3 market has recently been valued at around $5 billion with 40% growth predicted between 2010 and 2015. Omega-3 fatty acids are fats responsible for many important jobs in the body. We get these fats through our daily diets and the three major omega-3 fats are: Alpha [read the full story…]
Two recent evidence updates from NHS evidence have been published. These updates higlight new evidence related to these topic areas and provide a commentary on this new evidence. The topics are Improving outcomes in head and neck cancer Sedation in children and young people – This focuses on a summary of selected new evidence [read the full story…]
