Sex education programmes focused on ‘protection’ and ‘prevention’ with little attention given to supporting people to develop healthy, positive sexual relationships

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Knowledge about sexuality is a key factor in helping people develop healthy relationships, maintain their sexual health and avoid potentially abusive situations, but how much do sexuality education programmes for people with learning disabilities help fulfil these aims?

In her debut blog, Sian Anderson looks at a review of literature which looks at the effectiveness of sex education programmes and educational materials developed for people with mild or moderate learning disabilities.

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E-cigarettes: a review of the evidence-base for regulation

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Sally Adams
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Sally Adams summarises a recent review of e-cigarettes, which looks at use, content, safety, effects on smokers and the potential for harm and benefit.

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Review finds lack of published, robust evidence on impact of advocacy in social care services

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Background A recent report from the Improving Health and Lives team suggested that over half of the advocacy organisations in the UK provide services for people with learning disabilities. The report pointed out that given the increasing move towards personalisation and the changes taking place in the organization of commissioning, that there was likely to [read the full story…]

ADHD and the importance of healthy sleep

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Joanna Martin
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Good sleep is a crucial part of our physical and mental well-being. We typically spend about a third of our lives asleep but when we miss out on sleep, we can feel fatigued and struggle to concentrate. Sleep problems are generally quite common and have been reported as one of the most common health conditions [read the full story…]

How can we best prevent suicide in young people? More questions than answers

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Listening to a World Health Organisation podcast recently I learnt that someone dies as a result of suicide every 40 seconds; this equates to a million suicides each year. The podcast contains a myriad of such stark statistics and the contributors’ highlight how it is well established that young people are often at risk, and [read the full story…]

Is expertise from specialist services in mainstream services best way to support people with learning disabilities and mental health needs?

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The recently published guidance from the joint commissioning panel for mental health suggested that ‘there is no universally agreed commissioning model for mental health services supporting people with learning disabilities’ and this reflects an on-going debate about the structure and delivery of services to meet the needs of this group. The commissioning guidance suggests that [read the full story…]

Interventions for smoking cessation and alcohol abuse in people with learning disabilities lack theoretical framework and clear outcome measures

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We have posted previously about increasing concerns about misuse of tobacco and alcohol amongst people with mild to moderate learning disabilities, with one review in the United States suggesting that people with learning disabilities were less likely to receive or remain in treatment. The authors of this systematic review were interested in looking at interventions [read the full story…]

Quality of life measures missing in studies of outcomes of pharmacological interventions in autism spectrum disorder

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Quality of life is becoming a common outcome in the reporting of trials. The authors of this literature review were interested to look systematically at the use of quality life as an outcome in pharmacological research on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Currently, the most frequently used outcome measures in such trials are measures of changes in [read the full story…]

Social inclusion for people with challenging behaviour poorly conceptualised and rarely achieved

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The topic of challenging behaviour is the most used keyword tag here at the Learning Disabilities Elf. It accounts for a good proportion of all the posts we produce, which is a reflection of course of the published literature. Recent events in the UK have thrown into sharp relief the need to ensure that vulnerable [read the full story…]