Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 1 of 1
The development of an assessment tool for the bereavement needs of people with learning disabilities
- Author:
- BLACKMAN Noelle
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(3), September 2008, pp.165-170.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The author discusses the development of a bereavement needs assessment tool (BNAT), been developed to help professionals supporting a bereaved person with learning disabilities to make a comprehensive assessment at the point of bereavement (or even pre-bereavement) in order that concurrent losses are discovered and plans can be put into place as to how to attend to these. The assessment tool consists of 10 main questions with sub questions. There is a focus on three areas of support: Practical issues – e.g. has this person's ability to communicate with others been affected by this loss? Social issues – e.g. what impact has this death had on the person's familial network? Emotional issues – e.g. does this person recognise their emotions and can they express them? A mixture of learning disability professionals (two psychologists and four learning disability nurses) working in three community teams have tried out the assessment tool and their comments will be used to further refine this tool.