How best to support people with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour is a question that has been thrown into sharp relief by the Winterbourne View scandal and subsequent pronouncements by Government about improving care for vulnerable adults. Clearly, managing risk and reducing harm are key components of the answer, but whilst necessary, will not [read the full story…]
In 2002, the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities produced a landmark report on the issue of mental health and emotional well-being in young people with learning disabilities ‘Count Us In’, which looked at ways of supporting young people to be emotionally strong, through education, support, friendships and advocacy. The report followed a year long [read the full story…]
Yesterday, we posted about the increasing longevity of people with learning disabilities and the potential for problems with sleep disturbance in this group. Today, we look at a review of the current evidence relating to the age related needs of these older adults who may be at increased risk of age-related disorders like dementia and [read the full story…]
As you know, we here at the Learning Disabilities Elf are committed to bringing you the evidence on what works in supporting people with learning disabilities. Occasionally though, we come across research that is not specifically focused on learning disabilities, but might be of interest. This review by the NIHR School for Social Care Research [read the full story…]
We have posted previously about substance abuse in people with learning disabilities. A study in the Netherlands found estimates of the occurrence of substance use varied greatly, but that alcohol was reported to be used most often, even though this was at lower rates than reported in the general population. We also identified a study [read the full story…]
We posted last year about a review of the literature on the effectiveness of psychotherapy with people with learning disabilities which suggested that there was evidence that it could be moderately effective. However, the authors urged some caution as the studies they reviews did not include any randomised controlled trials. This current review summarises the [read the full story…]
Recently in the Netherlands, Dutch TV showed footage of a teenager known as ‘Brandon’ who was resident in a long stay institution. Because of his challenging behaviour, he was managed in this institution by the use of a harness, which was attached via a leather strap to a metal bracket on the wall. Dutch psychiatrists have [read the full story…]
The term ‘physical interventions’ refers to ‘any method of responding to challenging behaviour which involves some degree of direct physical force to limit or restrict movement or mobility’ The authors of this literature review set out to look at the current evidence on the use of restraint as an intervention in managing challenging behaviours in [read the full story…]
Estimates of the numbers of people with learning disabilities who also have a co-morbid psychiatric disorder vary considerably between studies, from 14 to 39%. This review set out to look at the knowledge, attitudes and training of professionals supporting people with both learning disability and psychoatric disorder, termed in this study, dual diagnosis. The authors [read the full story…]
The authors of this review set out to take a comprehensive look at the literature relating to the outcomes for Children of parents with learning disability to test assumptions that such children are at risk of poor outcomes. The authors identified 26 studies from a database and reference search published in one year from March [read the full story…]
