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Access to healthcare services by people with intellectual disabilities: a rural-urban comparison
- Authors:
- NICHOLSON Laura, COOPER Sally-Ann
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 15(2), June 2011, pp.115-130.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
Considering that access to healthcare services is difficult both for adults with intellectual disabilities and for people living in rural areas, it is likely that adults with intellectual disabilities in rural areas may be at an extra disadvantage. This study examined data from 39 rural and 633 urban participants from Scotland. Data on demographics, healthcare, and access to services were collected from face-to-face interviews and primary care notes. Analysis revealed that the rural sample to have significantly more contact with primary and secondary health care. However, contact with allied healthcare professionals was not significantly different, except that people in the rural sample were significantly more likely to have had recent contact with a dentist and an optician. The authors concluded that adults with intellectual disabilities in rural areas were not disadvantaged when compared to urban service users.
Reactive attachment disorder symptoms in adults with intellectual disabilities
- Authors:
- MINNIS Helen, FLEMING Gail, COOPER Sally-Ann
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 23(4), July 2010, pp.398-403.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Unusual social behaviours such as disinhibited, overfriendly or, conversely, withdrawn hypervigilant behaviours are core symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Studies with children suggest that RAD is associated with pathogenic early care. Little is known about RAD in adults with intellectual disabilities, many of whom experience adversity and abuse in early life. This study investigated whether RAD symptoms occur in this population, and explored whether hypothesised risk factors are associated with higher RAD symptom scores. The participants were 50 adults with intellectual disabilities residing in long-stay hospitals. The participants and their carers participated in a questionnaire survey of RAD symptoms, childhood experiences, and disabilities. The results demonstrated that RAD symptoms were present in this sample, and symptom scores were independently associated with early childhood adversity, diminished with age, but were not associated with cognitive ability, gender, other disabilities, or number of childhood years in institutional care. The paper concludes that, as with children with RAD, it is possible that some maltreated adults with intellectual disabilities fail to develop stranger anxiety by the usual developmental age, but these symptoms reduce in adult life after decades of further development.