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Ageing and health status in adults with intellectual disabilities: results of the European Pomona II study
- Authors:
- HAVEMAN Meindert, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 36(1), March 2011, pp.49-60.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
POMONA II was a European Commission funded public health project collecting information from 14 countries using a set of key health indicators specifically relevant for people with intellectual disabilities. This research focused on age-specific differences relating to environmental and lifestyle factors and the 17 medical conditions measured by the POMONA Checklist of Health Indicators. The article describes how information was collected using the POMONA Health Interview Survey and Evaluation Form from a sample of 1,253 participants in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It then presents the results of the analysis, with tables showing characteristics of people with intellectual disabilities in the study, frequency of social contacts with relatives or friends according to age, lifestyle risk factors in people with intellectual disabilities according to age, and general and age-specific prevalence rates of health problems. The authors discuss how healthy older adults with intellectual disabilities are with regard to lifestyle factors, and whether there are health disparities between older adults with and without intellectual disabilities. They note that some evidence of health disparities was found for older people with intellectual disabilities, particularly in terms of under diagnosed or inadequately managed preventable health conditions.
Effects of Dementia Care Mapping on job satisfaction and caring skills of staff caring for older people with intellectual disabilities: a quasi‐experimental study
- Authors:
- SCHAAP Feija D., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 32(5), 2019, pp.1228-1240.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Background: The ageing of people with intellectual disabilities, involving consequences like dementia, creates a need for methods to support care staff. One promising method is Dementia Care Mapping (DCM). This study examined the effect of DCM on job satisfaction and care skills of ID‐care staff. Methods: This study performed a quasi‐experimental study in 23 group homes for older people with intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands. This study assessed job satisfaction and care skills among staff as primary outcomes and work experience measures as secondary outcomes (N = 227). Results: Dementia Care Mapping achieved no significantly better effect than care as usual (CAU) for primary outcomes on job satisfaction (MWSS‐HC) and working skills (P‐CAT). Effect sizes varied from −0.18 to −0.66. This study also found no differences for any of the secondary outcomes. Conclusion: Dementia Care Mapping does not increase job satisfaction and care skills of staff caring for older people with intellectual disabilities. This result differs from previous findings and deserves further study. (Edited publisher abstract)
Personality and behavioural changes do not precede memory problems as possible signs of dementia in ageing people with Down syndrome
- Authors:
- BLOK J.B., SCHEIRS J.G.M., THIJM N.S.
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 32(12), 2017, pp.1257-1263.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Objective: The objective was to find out whether changes in personality and adaptive functioning or memory processes decline first in ageing people with Down syndrome. Methods: The authors measured these variables cross-sectionally in a Dutch sample (22 to 62 years of age) of 68 institutionalised people with Down syndrome. Results: The scores on all the variables except one of the temperament scales were found to decline gradually with increasing age, but deterioration of episodic memory started earlier. Conclusions: The authors argued that a subset of their sample suffered from dementia. Furthermore, the data suggested that immediate memory impairment is one of the earliest signs of the disease in people with Down syndrome, just as it is in the general population. (Edited publisher abstract)
Factors associated with depression and anxiety in older adults with intellectual disabilities: results of the healthy ageing and intellectual disabilities study
- Authors:
- HERMANS Heidi, EVENHUIS Heleen M.
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 28(7), 2013, pp.691-699.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The objective of this article is to study which factors are associated with depression and anxiety in older adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). Depressive and anxiety symptoms were studied in 990 participants with borderline to profound ID, aged ≥ 50 years, using self-report and informant-report screening questionnaires. Participants were drawn from three large Intellectual Disability services in the Netherlands. In 290 participants, major depression and anxiety disorders were assessed with a standardised psychiatric interview. Associations with personal, medical and psychosocial factors, which were collected through questionnaires and participants' medical and psychological records, were studied using multiple logistic regression analysis. Increased depressive symptoms were positively associated with increased anxiety symptoms, number of life events during the past year and chronic diseases (heart failure, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus and malignity in the previous 5 years) and negatively with instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) abilities. Major depression was positively associated with chronic diseases and negatively with IADL abilities. Increased anxiety symptoms were positively associated with borderline or mild ID and increased depressive symptoms and negatively associated with Down syndrome, epilepsy and social contacts. Anxiety disorders showed no significant associations. To develop effective prevention and treatment policies, factors associated with depression and anxiety in older adults with ID should be further examined in longitudinal research. (Publisher abstract)