Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
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Childhood cognitive function and adult psychopathology: associations with psychotic and non-psychotic symptoms in the general population
- Authors:
- BARNETT Jennifer H., et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 201(2), August 2012, pp.124-130.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Lower childhood cognitive ability is associated with increased risk of future schizophrenia, but its relationship with adult psychotic experiences is less understood. This study aimed to investigate whether this childhood risk factor is shared with adult psychiatric phenotypes including psychotic-like experiences and general psychiatric morbidity. A population-based sample of participants born in Great Britain during 1 week in March 1946 was contacted up to 20 times between ages 6 weeks and 53 years. Cognition was assessed at ages 8, 11 and 15 years. At age 53 years, psychotic-like experiences were self-reported by 2,918 participants. Findings revealed that psychotic experiences were encountered 22% of participants, and were highly comorbid with other psychopathology. Their presence in adults was significantly associated with poorer childhood cognitive test scores at ages 8 and 15 years. The authors concluded that lower childhood cognitive ability was a risk factor for psychotic-like experiences in mid-life.
Women with intellectual disability at risk of adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes
- Authors:
- McDONNELL D., MAYES R., LLEWELLYN G.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 52(6), June 2008, pp.529-535.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
A total of 878 pregnant women attending their first antenatal clinic visit in and area of New South Wales, Australia were ‘screened’ for intellectual disability (ID). Pregnancy and birth outcomes data were extracted from medical records post-partum. These data included pregnancy-related health conditions, including pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes, and birth outcomes, including gestational age, birthweight, Apgar score and admission to neonatal intensive care and/or special care nursery. A total of 57 (6.5%) pregnant women with ID and/or self-reported learning difficulties were identified. These women experienced an unusually high rate of pre-eclampsia. Their children more often had low birthweights, and they were more frequently admitted to neonatal intensive care or special care nursery. Further research is needed to understand the reasons for the adverse findings of this study and identify potentially changeable factors contributing to adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes for women with ID and/or self-reported learning difficulties and their children. To ensure quality antenatal care, health professionals may need to consider innovations such as extended consultation times, communication aids and audio-taping consultations.
Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for People with Learning Disabilities (HoNOS—LD)
- Authors:
- ASHOK Roy, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, January 2002, pp.61-66.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Frequent impaired social functioning, problems with communication and associated physical conditions meant that a bespoke instrument was needed for people with learning disabilities. This article describes the development of the Health of the Nation Outcomes Scales for People with Learning Disabilities (HoNOS—LD).
Discharges from a learning disabilities medium secure unit: what happens to them?
- Authors:
- HALSTEAD Simon, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Forensic Practice, 3(1), April 2001, pp.11-21.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Thirty-five patients who had received at least one year's treatment in a learning-disability medium secure unit were followed up for a maximum of five years. A good treatment outcome was more common in those with significant learning disability. At the end of follow up, 21 subjects (60 %) were living in the community with support. The early months after discharge were a peak period for relapse. A very low level of reconviction was found, affecting only one subject. Patients who were older on discharge were less likely to re-offend.
Making a difference: the impact of the Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with learning disabilities
- Author:
- HESLOP Pauline
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43(2), 2015, pp.142-149.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with learning disabilities (CIPOLD) was commissioned by the Department of Health in England in 2010 to investigate the avoidable or premature deaths of people with learning disabilities through retrospective reviews of deaths. Both the process of conducting CIPOLD and the findings of the study itself made an impact on the way in which professionals thought about issues relating to people with learning disabilities and led to changes in policy and practice. Much of the impact of CIPOLD came from arming practitioners, family carers, people with learning disabilities and policy makers with the research findings and encouraging them to take on the mantle of change from there, for example, by increasing the provision of training or reviewing their current practice. There were a number of challenges that the research team faced. First, they needed to ensure the assiduous recording of any impact that took place throughout the duration of the research and beyond. Secondly, they were careful to make sure that as far as possible, professionals were involved and that it was a learning experience for them from which they had something to gain. Thirdly, self-reflexivity on the part of the research team was required in order for them to understand where their own strengths and limitations lay. (Publisher abstract)
Early intervention for children with intellectual disabilities: current knowledge and future prospects
- Author:
- GURALNICK Michael J.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 18(4), December 2005, pp.313-324.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The field of early intervention is vibrant, generating expectations that systematic, comprehensive, experientially based interventions will alter developmental trajectories and prevent secondary complications. In this article, the existing knowledge base in the field is reviewed. It emphasizes the importance of an overall developmental framework, what is known through intervention science and the emergence of guiding principles for programme design and development. This is followed by a discussion of future prospects for improving early intervention outcomes in four areas. First, the importance of designing studies that provide information about carefully defined subgroups is discussed. This issue of specificity of outcomes is crucial in order to determine boundaries for effectiveness and to direct attention to areas of special concern. Second, prospects for translational research are discussed with particular reference to our knowledge of the core developmental processes affected. Third, the need to focus on the increasingly apparent mental health and social competence difficulties of even young children with intellectual disabilities is considered. Finally, the complex problems and potential solutions associated with the transfer of model intervention programmes to communities as part of early intervention systems are described.
Service innovations: risk assessment in learning disability
- Author:
- BHAUMIK S.
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatric Bulletin, 29(1), January 2005, pp.28-31.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the care programme approach (CPA) in adults with learning disabilities in a specialist treatment unit by auditing all in-patient records over a 6-month period. A multidisciplinary team set CPA standards. Staff on the unit completed questionnaires about patients, including CPA screening and risk assessment/management, and carers completed questionnaires about their perceptions of risk and information sharing. Of the 15 patients whose records were reviewed, 13 had CPA screening on admission and 12 on discharge. Before discharge, 9 patients had a CPA planning meeting and only 4 patients had a demonstrable risk management plan. Carers of 9 patients perceived that information was shared. Major deficiencies identified in risk assessment and management and in information sharing may potentially jeopardise successful treatment and after-care.
Growing up with parents who have learning difficulties: findings
- Author:
- JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 1997
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
A recent study by the authors of the University of Sheffield explored the experience of children brought up in a family headed by a parent or parents with learning difficulties. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 now-adult children, the researchers challenge many common assumptions about the risks and outcomes of such an upbringing.
A textbook of social work
- Authors:
- SHELDON Brian, MACDONALD Geraldine
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 429p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
This publication is a comprehensive, evidence-based guide to social work practice. It strikes a balance between the need for social workers to understand the social, economic, cultural, psychological and interpersonal factors which give rise to clients' problems, and the need for them to know how best to respond with practical measures. Divided into three accessible parts, the text covers context and theory in the first part and social work skills and methods in the second part. The final part looks at the major specialisms, including, among others, chapters on: children, people with mental health problems; older people; chronic illness and physical disability; learning disability; juvenile and adult offenders; substance misusers.
Management of sexually inappropriate behaviours in men with learning disabilities
- Authors:
- GREEN Gill, GRAY Nicola S., WILLNER Paul
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 14(1), April 2003, pp.85-110.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Care professionals were interviewed regarding the extent, nature and victims of inappropriate sexual behaviour of 46 men with learning disabilities, and an adapted form of a version of the Structured Anchored Clinical Judgement risk assessment protocol (SACJ-Min) was completed for each. Risk judgements were unrelated to objective risk, as assessed by the SACJ-Min, to seriousness or frequency of sexual offending, to treatment outcome, or to a wide variety of other factors examined. The variables most strongly associated with risk judgements were the presence of a child victim and criminal convictions for inappropriate sexual behaviour, both of which, paradoxically, were perceived to decrease the risk of reoffending. Respondents were con dent that existing management arrangements were effective in decreasing the risk of reoffending, and that the more intensely clients were supervised, the greater was the decrease in risk. However, level of supervision was unrelated to objective risk, as assessed by the SACJ-Min, to seriousness or frequency of sexual offending, to identity of the victims targeted, or to a wide variety of other factors examined. A few variables were found to be associated with supervision level, but in every case these differences are most plausibly understood as consequences of supervision, rather than causes. The results suggest that the management of sexually inappropriate behaviour in men with learning disabilities has little if any rational basis.