Search results for ‘Subject term:"severe learning disabilities"’ Sort:
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Too many drugs, too little care: parents' perceptions of the administration and side-effects of drugs prescribed for young people with severe learning difficulties
- Author:
- HUBERT Jane
- Publisher:
- Values into Action
- Publication year:
- 1992
- Pagination:
- 63p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
‘My heart is always where he is’. Perspectives of mothers of young people with severe intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour living at home
- Author:
- HUBERT Jane
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39(3), September 2011, pp.216-224.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
To date, there is a dearth of research examining the perspectives of families caring for someone with severe or profound intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour. This study investigated the experiences and perspectives of families, particularly mothers, of young people with these complex needs, including attitudes to long-term residential care. Data was drawn from interviews with mothers over a two year period, and participant observation of 10 young men and 10 young women aged 15 to 22. Findings revealed that the mothers’ main focus was on their son or daughter with intellectual disabilities. Most were socially isolated, even from close family. Negative attitudes to institutions and fears for the safety and well-being of their children led to determination not to put them into long-term care. In spite of the difficulties, mothers struggled to care for the young people at home. Lack of effective services, especially around transition to adulthood, increased parents’ protectiveness of their children.
A study of post-institutionalized men with severe intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour
- Authors:
- HUBERT Jane, HOLLINS Sheila
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 7(3), September 2010, pp.189-195.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The closure of the mental hospitals in the UK has opened up opportunities to improve the lives of institutionalised people moving to campus group homes, and group and other homes in the community. This article examines the outcomes of moves from institutions to small group homes among adults with challenging behaviours. A study was designed to help understand the post-deinstitutionalisation experiences and needs of a group of 20 men with severe intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviours who previously resided in a hospital's ‘locked ward’. Ethnographic methods were used, involving participant observation in the original residence and, later, in their new homes. It was found that the men's lives improved in material terms after taking up residence in their new homes, but there were limitations on other significant changes in their lives. The men still experienced social exclusion and denial of individual identity and autonomy, and there appeared to be few fundamental changes in professional and social attitudes toward them. Despite wide acknowledgment of the unacceptable treatment of people living in institutions, the authors conclude that there is evidence that the individual human and civil rights of some adults with intellectual disabilities continue to be ignored even after entry back into the community.
Moving home: the experiences of women with severe intellectual disabilities in transition from a locked ward
- Authors:
- OWEN Katherine, HUBERT Jane, HOLLINS Sheila
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(4), December 2008, pp.220-226.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This research aimed first to understand how women with severe intellectual disabilities experienced transition from a locked ward of an old long-stay hospital into other homes, and second, to determine the extent to which their lives changed in their new homes. Ethnographic methods were used, including participant observation, interviews and document analysis, in order to get to know the eleven participants and the nature of their daily lives. The study found that the experience of the move was largely negative for all the women: they were not involved in the process of their move, little information was transferred to their new homes and they were insufficiently supported. The study also found that for the majority of the women little changed in their lives in their new homes, although this depended on where they moved to. Those who moved to a campus home continued to lead lives restricted by rigid routines, strict rules, few daily activities, and few opportunities for relationships beyond the staff team. Those who moved to homes in the community had more opportunities to make choices, learn new skills and explore new activities. The study found that, in general, the women continued not to be acknowledged as unique individuals, who have pasts, close relationships, clear preferences, abilities and rich emotional lives. The study highlights the needs of women with severe intellectual disabilities in their move out of long-stay hospitals, and in the planning of their futures.