There is now a good body of literature concerned with the quality of life of people with learning disabilities and a number of practical approaches available to consider its measurement (for example personal outcome measures and the Quality Network) The research has identified five domains of quality of life: material well-being, development and activity, physical [read the full story…]
The need for appropriately supported accommodation for people with learning disabilities continues to rise as people naturally move from family homes to their own. Controlling costs of support has always been a major concern for the paying authorities, but this is particularly true in the current climate of financial constraint. They key challenge is how [read the full story…]
Whilst there has been an increasing interest in developing measures of quality of life for people with learning disabilities, there has been little research looking specifically at the experiences of women with learning disabilities aged 40 years or older. This study set out to look at this specific group and to do this, worked with [read the full story…]
This review of the literature sets out to look at developments in concepts and measures of family quality of life. The authors identify a developing trend from interventions for people with learning disabilities based solely on the individual’s special needs independent of the family and environmental context through to a position where these needs are [read the full story…]
Based on the ‘Health Inequalities and People with Learning Disabilities in the UK’ report this document looks at ways to put the evidence base into practice to improve health outcomes for people with learning disabilities. The report looks at what is known about the social determinants of poorer health in people with learning disabilities, increased [read the full story…]
Cleft lip and palate is one of the most commonly encountered congenital abnormalities. Traditional outcomes measures have focussed on measures such as anatomical measurements morbidity and mortality. Increasingly patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) such as aesthetic results, speech and quality of life are being used. The main aim of this review was to identify existing cleft [read the full story…]
Protection of vulnerable adults has received increasing attention in recent years. This study set out to identify the views of support staff about what vulnerability means and how this might impact on their practice. The author used data from a previous study in which support staff views had been explored. The author used semi-structured interviews [read the full story…]
Edentulism can have functional, aesthetic and psychological impacts on patients. The aim of this study was to compare any improvement in quality of life and overall patient satisfaction following the provision of implant supported mandibular overdentures compared with conventional mandibular dentures. 122 edentulous patients had a baseline assessment of denture satisfaction and quality of life [read the full story…]
Despite improvements in oral health in many countries early childhood caries (ECC) remains the most common reason for hospital admissions for paediatric patients. Children with ECC have a lower oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). The aim of this study was to see whether dental treatment of young Auckland children under GA improved oral-health-related quality of [read the full story…]
Quality of life as a treatment outcome in services for people with learning disabilities and autism has received little attention in the literature. The researchers in this study combined quality of life measures with objective observations of challenging behaviours to evaluate outcomes for adults with learning disabilities and autism living in two different residential services. [read the full story…]
