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COVID-19 and intellectual disability/autism spectrum disorder with high and very high support needs: issues of physical and mental vulnerability
- Authors:
- BUONAGURO Elisabetta F., BERTELLI Marco O.
- Journal article citation:
- Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, 15(1), 2021, pp.8-19.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: The COVID-19 outbreak has profoundly plagued the world, and current health efforts are focused on providing prevention and ensuring access to intensive services for people with the most severe symptomatology. Many reports have already described substantial psychological distress in the general population. Nevertheless, disasters tend to affect vulnerable subjects disproportionately, and individuals with intellectual disabilities/autism spectrum disorder with high and very high support needs (PwID/ASD-HSN) seem to be counted among the hardest hit populations. The present paper aims to provide a comprehensive discussion and evaluation of COVID-19 related issues specific to PwID/ASD-HSN. Design/methodology/approach: Commentary on available literature and analysis of new preliminary data on PwID/ASD-HSN’s physical and psychic vulnerability factors. This knowledge is fundamental to provide families and caregivers special advice to counteract the risks associated with the current pandemic. Findings: PwID/ASD-HSN represent one of the most vulnerable population to the COVID-19 outbreak and the associated factors of mental distress for several reasons, including multimorbidity, low levels of health literacy, difficulties to understand and communicate, reliance on other people for care, low compliance with complex hygiene rules, the strong need of routine/sameness and low adaptive skills. Originality/value: In the present work, the authors analyze the specific factors of physical and mental vulnerability in PwID/ASD-HSN, corroborating the dissertation with a discussion on the first data published worldwide and with preliminary data collected on the Italian territory for what concerns prevalence rates of COVID-19 and complications in persons with PwID/ASD-HSN and signs and symptoms of psychic distress during the mass quarantine period. (Edited publisher abstract)
Staying with people who slap us around: gender, juggling responsibilities and violence in paid (and unpaid) care work
- Author:
- BAINES Donna
- Journal article citation:
- Gender, Work and Organization, 13(2), March 2006, pp.129-151.
- Publisher:
- Blackwell
Little is actually known about women's occupational health, let alone how men and women may experience similar jobs and health risks differently. Drawing on data from a larger study of social service workers in Canada, this article examines four areas where gender is pivotal to the new ways of organizing caring labour, including the expansion of unpaid work and the use of personal resources to subsidize agency resources; gender-neutral violence; gender-specific violence and the juggling of home and work responsibilities. Collective assumptions and expectations about how men and women should perform care work result in men's partial insulation from the more intense forms of exploitation, stress and violence. This article looks at health risks, not merely as compensable occupational health concerns, but as avoidable products of forms of work organization that draw on notions of the endlessly stretchable capacity of women to provide care work in any context, including a context of violence. Indeed, the logic of women's elastic caring appear crucial to the survival of some agencies and the gender order in these workplaces.
Effects on physical health of a multicomponent programme for overweight and obesity for adults with intellectual disabilities
- Authors:
- MARTINEZ-ZARAGOZA Fermin, CAMPILLO-MARTINEZ Jose M., ATO-GARCIA Manuel
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 29(3), 2016, p.250–265.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Background: Overweight and obesity are major health risk factors in people with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of a multicomponent programme (physical activity, diet and motivation) for overweight and obesity in adults with intellectual disabilities. Material and Methods: A quasi-experimental design with repeated-measures and non-equivalent control group (n = 33, n = 31) was used. The programme was conducted over 17 weeks, with follow-up at 6 months in a sample of Spanish adults with a mild and moderate intellectual disability from a community occupational day centre, aged from 23 to 50, 40.6% of which were women. Results: A significant reduction in weight and diastolic blood pressure was obtained over time, and this reduction was maintained in the follow-up for weight. Reduction in heart rate was only marginally significant. Conclusions:The treatment was effective in reducing overweight and obesity, improving cardiovascular capacity and therefore the physical health of the participants. (Publisher abstract)
Major health risks in aging persons with intellectual disabilities: an overview of recent studies
- Authors:
- HAVEMAN Meindert, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 7(1), March 2010, pp.59-69.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study examines the health-related literature on aging and intellectual disabilities (ID), with specific focus on examining findings on age-associated health risk factors, such as cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal health issues, and oral health. It also examined studies of lifestyle health risks, primarily the contributions to obesity. While the review found varying differences in the frequency of health risk factors, significant evidence is appearing that cardiovascular disease is as common among people with ID and is as common a cause of death as in the general population, and that the variations in prevalence were culturally dependent. Digestive system problems were also apparent with high occurrence rates of helicobacter pylori, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and constipation. In summary the authors show that this review revealed a growing body of work on health risk factors, such as overweight and obesity, which are often linked to the onset of a variety of diseases and impairing conditions. Healthier lifestyles, better nutrition and more exercise, and greater observation of health risks were seen as ways to improve the health status of older people with ID.
Determining research questions on health risks by people with learning disabilities, carers and care-workers
- Authors:
- YOUNG Anita F., CHESSON Rosemary A.
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(1), March 2008, pp.22-31.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The authors describe the process by which research questions were developed for reducing health risks for people with learning disabilities. The study itself was undertaken in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. A participatory approach was used to give service users and carers a clear voice in deciding questions, thereby setting the research agenda. Audio-taped interviews and focus groups were used. Forty people (20 service users, 10 carers, 10 care-workers) were recruited and gave consent for interview. Interviews incorporated scenarios and these were used to describe two different types of health risks (i) those relating to lifestyle, and (ii) those associated with unrecognized illness. Participants were invited to specify a research question for each scenario. A total of 78 questions were identified, and from these, six key themes emerged. The themes were validated using three separate focus groups (service users, carers, care-workers). From this process six final questions encompassing participants’ key research concerns were produced. Questions were resubmitted to participants for prioritizing, using a postal voting system (75% response rate). The research clearly demonstrates that people with learning disabilities and carers can identify and prioritize research questions they consider significant for improving health.
Sterilisation
- Author:
- HARRIS Peter
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Care, 3(9), May 2000, p.315.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
A man with learning disabilities cannot be sterilised; a women can. The decision rests on the balance of risk to their physical and mental health. Discusses the law using a case example.
Enabling carers to access specialist training in breakaway techniques: a case study
- Authors:
- GREEN T., WRAY J.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Learning Disabilities for Nursing Health and Social Care, 3(1), March 1999, pp.34-38.
This article explores the experience of one family, whose child had Prader-Willi Syndrome and severe behavioural difficulties, and the process undertaken to access specialist training in 'Breakaway' training. Prader-Willi syndrome has been associated with a range of behavioural difficulties including hyperphagia and food preoccupation, temper tantrums, stubbornness, lability, impulsivity, argumentativeness, depression, anxiety and repetitive behaviours. To ensure safety of both the parents and the child, access to training in 'Breakaway techniques' for the carers was procured, at the carers request. This paper concentrates upon the difficulties encountered during this process, both for the family and the professionals involved.