Mindfulness has been offered as a way to help reduce stress in family and carers but few studies have as yet looked directly at the effects of offering mindfulness-based interventions to people with learning disabilities themselves.
In her debut blog, Leen Vereenhooghe looks at an attempt to evaluate a mindfulness group in an inpatient assessment and treatment unit through the experiences of those who took part.
[read the full story...]
Anxiety disorders are estimated to affect over 3% of children and young adults in the UK, but it is less clear how common such disorders might be amongst children and adolescents with learning disabilities.
Here, in his debut blog, Sam Jee looks at a systematic review which looks at what we know about the prevalence and measurement of anxiety in children and adolescents with learning disabilities.
[read the full story...]
Jo Moriarty examines a study on social worker caregiver identity and distress and discovers some useful findings about the nature of stress in social work, with helpful practice messages for team managers.
[read the full story...]
In her first blog for the Musculoskeletal Elf, Pamela Andrews a sports therapist and a PhD candidate at Glasgow Caledonian University discusses a recent systematic reiew of meta-analyses evaluating the effectiveness of exercise for depression in adults with arthritis, fibromyalgia and other rheumatic diseases.
[read the full story...]
Heather Gray summarises a review of best practice in work absence management and return to work programmes for people with musculoskeletal and mental health conditions.
[read the full story...]
Mary Larkin looks at research on carer mental health and asks us to consider the wider implications for social care policy and carer support.
[read the full story...]
In her latest blog, Clarissa Giebel examines research into the effectiveness of the ‘Strategies for Relatives’ psychological and educational training programme for family carers of people with dementia and explores what the findings might mean for wider programme implementation.
[read the full story...]
We know that access to accurate information is crucial if people are to make good decisions about the support they get from services. If someone with a learning disability is admitted to a hospital unit for assessment or treatment for a mental health issue or in response to behaviour that is challenging support services, this can be a particularly difficult and confusing time for all concerned.
In her debut blog, Alison Giraud-Saunders, along with co-author Angela Cole, describes a booklet that she co-authored with the involvement of family members which has lots of key information on the law and people’s rights.
[read the full story...]
Alison Turner highlights a recent report from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Mental Health Foundation, which looks at how to commission better mental health and wellbeing services for young people.
[read the full story...]
As people with learning disabilities are living longer, then they are also experiencing age related disorders such as dementia, where they have been shown to have a higher risk than the general population. Here we look at a review of the current state of knowledge which looks at a range of issues, from prevalence, assessment, treatment and future directions for research.
[read the full story...]
