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Utility of staff training on correcting sleep problems in people with intellectual disabilities living in residential settings
- Authors:
- HYLKEMA Tejo, PETITIAUX Wanda, VLASKAMP Carla
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 8(2), June 2011, pp.85-91.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Sleep problems are common in people with intellectual disabilities (ID), and may aggravate behavioural problems or cause functional irritations during the day. The cause of sleep problems can be intrinsic factors having a physical origin or extrinsic factors linked to environmental causes. This study examined how to introduce training to improve the knowledge and understanding of sleep quality and sleep problems in people with ID among care staff at a residential facility in order to reduce extrinsic sleep problems. The study was carried out over 19 weeks in 2 residential care institutions in the northern part of the Netherlands. The care staff were divided into 2 groups: the first was offered a lecture and a workshop; and the second was only offered a lecture. Sleep efficiency and sleep latency in the residents with ID who were not suspected of having sleep problems were measured 4 times. In both groups, sleep efficiency rose significantly. The time spent in bed by residents overseen by the first group was reduced significantly, and there was a significant reduction of daily napping time. In the second group, there was a significant increase of daily napping time and in the number of naps. The article concludes that educational techniques, such as lectures and workshops, provided to staff can lead to significant improvements in residents' sleep efficiency.
Support characteristics associated with the quality of life of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities; the perspective of parents and direct support staff
- Authors:
- PETRY Katja, MAES Bea, VLASKAMP Carla
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 4(2), June 2007, pp.104-110.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The authors examined which support characteristics are associated with the quality of life (QOL) of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). The authors invited parents and direct support staff of people with PIMD to adopt the perspective of their child or the person with PIMD for whom they care. Some 76 parents and direct support staff of people with PIMD were interviewed, and to obtain data, transcripts were analyzed in-depth. The respondents mentioned: (1) characteristics with regard to the structure of the setting (physical environment, staff ratio, staff turnover, group size, and group composition); (2) characteristics with regard to the internal organization of the support (partnership, teamwork, interdisciplinary, and support planning); and (3) characteristics with regard to the support staff (experience, sensitive responsiveness, commitment and motivation, physical strength, knowledge and skills, and self-reflection). The respondents considered structural as well as operating features of the support setting to be important for the QOL of people with PIMD. The authors conclude that their main emphasis, however, was on the central role of direct support staff in supporting people with PIMD.