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Investigating staff knowledge and attitudes towards working with adults with learning disabilities and mental health problems
- Authors:
- ROSE Nikki, O'BRIEN Alex, ROSE John
- Journal article citation:
- Advances in Mental Health and Learning Disabilities, 1(3), September 2007, pp.52-59.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Government policy in the UK suggests a shift in service provision so that the treatment of people with a learning disability who have mental health problems should be undertaken by mainstream mental health services rather than specialist learning disability services. Staff members from both specialist and mainstream services took part in a series of focus groups to discuss their experiences and attitudes about working with this group of people. Findings form the study suggest that staff with mainstream services currently feel that they are inadequately trained to deal with the often complex mental health needs of this group. Conversely, staff in learning disability services expressed concern about loosing their specialist skills in generic services. The implications of the themes are raised are discussed, particularly in relation to future service provision.