Journal of Intellectual Disabilities最新文献

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and wellbeing of social workers working with people with learning disabilities has not been fully explored. This paper reports findings from a large United Kingdom study that surveyed health and care workers in six phases of the pandemic and shortly thereafter (2020-23) relating to 310 social workers who worked with people with learning disabilities. Mann-Whitney U tests revealed that these social workers experienced a decline in wellbeing over the pandemic period, but this lessened as time passed. Logistic regression showed that social worker wellbeing predicted intentions to leave their profession. This study offers an evidence-based foundation to guide retention policies in learning disability social work, aiming to stabilise the sector and preserve essential experience for workforce planning.

Background: Cancer is one of the most common causes of mortality among disabled people, and population-based screening is an effective method to identify some cancers early; however, its uptake is lower among the disabled population. There is a lack of evidence regarding why they access less, and their need to access population-based screening programmes.

Aim: To synthesise evidence of the experience of accessing population-based screening programmes for disabled people.

Method: A qualitative evidence synthesis (QES) was carried out by searching electronic databases including Medline, CINAHL, Web of Science Core Collection, and Scopus. Grey literature was also searched for. The search yielded 32 relevant publications.

Results: The findings are based on Levesque's conceptual framework. Several factors affect the accessibility of screening services, including people's perceptions, family support, affordability, literacy, and accessibility.

Conclusion: Screening services need to acknowledge the needs of disabled people and integrate reasonable accommodations to facilitate their needs.

Person-centered planning has been shown to benefit people with disabilities and their quality of life. However, we have little knowledge of how person-centered planning can benefit staff and administration within a group home organization, as well as the extent to which it results in changes to organizational practices and procedures, as well as perceptions of people with disabilities. In this qualitative study, we explored the perspectives of organizational employees, an affiliating behavioral consultant, and residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, taking into consideration key insights from person-centered planning consultant-coaches, to understand the effects of a person-centered planning initiative on the group home organization. Accompanying our findings are five stories that poetically describe each of the participating residents and their experiences with organizational employees throughout the implementation of the initiative. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder poses challenges in social communication and behavior, while Intellectual disabilities are characterized by deficits in cognitive, social, and adaptive skills, frequently accompanied by stereotypies and challenging behaviors. Despite the progress made in autism spectrum disorder research, there is often a lack of research focusing on individuals with co-occurring autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. Robot-assisted autism therapies are effective in addressing these needs. However, there is a lack of consensus on the optimal number of therapy sessions required for effective outcomes, particularly in children with comorbid autism and intellectual disability.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the optimal number of therapy sessions required for effective outcomes in robot-assisted autism therapy, specifically focusing on children with comorbid autism and intellectual disability. Gaze analysis metrics, including the average number of eye contact and average inter-eye contact delay, are utilized to assess therapy effectiveness.

Methods: This study integrates gaze analysis focusing on the average number of eye contact and average inter-eye contact delay as performance metrics. A pilot investigation was conducted to explore the critical temporal window for optimal trial count in robot-assisted autism therapy for children with autism. A mathematical model was introduced and validated for eight children with autism spectrum disorder, encompassing 56 experiments conducted over 7 weeks (one trial per week). Robots presented 8 cues in 3 categories (visual, speech, motion) with 16 cues per trial.

Results and conclusions: The results, validated using single-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, revealed that the unsaturated state, with a median score of 3.44, exhibited significantly lower average inter-eye contact delay (p-value = 0.014, r = 0.86) and significantly higher average number of eye contact (p-value = 0.014, r = 0.87) compared to the hypothesized medians. These findings suggest that the unsaturated state occurring in the critical temporal window has significantly higher average number of eye contact and lower average inter-eye contact delay compared to the saturated state. This study underscores the importance of tailored and targeted interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder, facilitating the development of cost-effective, time-efficient, evidence-based treatments.

The aim of this research is to analyse the elements necessary for the construction of inclusive universities in the European context from the perspective of university professors. Three focus groups are conducted in different countries: Spain, Italy and Portugal. The discourses have been analysed following Grounded Theory. The codes obtained were subjected to a centrality analysis in which rank, intermediation and proximity were analysed. The results show inclusion, teaching, experience and well-being as central elements of the discourses. Two large semantic blocks are obtained, one referring to educational factors and the other to social and emotional factors. Educational factors refer to how methodologies, assessment and support elements should be configured. In relation to social and emotional factors, issues related to inclusion, inclusive experiences, support and accompaniment and the role of families are presented. It concludes with the need to address both factors with a commitment from the entire university community.

Although Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) has been used in schools, its success has prompted recommendations for its adoption in group home and day habilitation settings. This scoping review examines the literature on implementing MTSS in group home and day habilitation settings for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Of the 15 studies reviewed, most focused on Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) rather than a comprehensive MTSS framework, raising questions about the alignment of interventions with the three-tiered structure of MTSS. Additionally, PBIS in these settings appears restricted to an individualized approach to minimizing behavior instead of the comprehensive framework used in schools. Benefits of implementing PBIS include a reduction in challenging behavior, decreased use of restrictive interventions, and staff-related advantages such as improved organization and reduced turnover. Challenges are noted in time and resource constraints. Suggestions for implementing MTSS in residential and day habilitation settings are provided.

This pilot study evaluated a money management skills program for students within the scope of occupational therapy practice. Three undergraduate students with intellectual disabilities attended sessions twice weekly for six weeks, learning financial concepts and applying knowledge through technology-based activities. The students were nonrandomly selected through a program that works to support college students with intellectual disabilities. Perceptions of money management skills pre- and post-intervention were assessed using a novel developed quantitative questionnaire. The Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills (KELS) Assessment (money management section) was used to score and assess the participants' money management skills using descriptive indicators. The results demonstrated improvements in KELS Assessment and Likert-question scores from pre- to post-program implementation. Further research should be conducted to draw significant statistical conclusions on the effectiveness of a technology-based money management program for college students with intellectual disabilities.

In the Kahramanmaraş earthquake on February 6, 2023, which was described as the most severe earthquake on land worldwide and the disaster of century, the loss of life and material losses reached serious levels. In this study, it was aimed to examine the experiences of 21 individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities affected by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake by interviewing their families regarding this process. Fifteen parents of one/more children diagnosed with intellectual disability/autism spectrum disorder participated in this study, which was conducted with a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research designs. These themes are (a) the impact of the earthquake on the child with autism spectrum disorder/intellectual disability, (b) the impact of the earthquake on the parents, (c) difficulties experienced and (d) requirements. When the themes are examined, parents state that their children face serious physical, psychological and educational harm, their behavioral problems increase due to trauma they experience.

Involuntary care in intellectual disability care may be reduced by deployment of multidisciplinary consultation. The Multi-Disciplinary Expertise Team (MDET) method proved effective in a previous trial on increasing involuntary care reduction. The current study aimed to examine how four organizations adapted MDET during implementation, and tested whether these versions were also effective. Semi-structured interviews with MDET-coordinators were analyzed using the Framework Reporting Adaptions and Modifications-Expanded. A quasi-experimental interrupted time-series design tested change in weekly counts of involuntary care recordings from before to during MDET implementation, in care homes that implemented MDET (n = 24) compared to care homes providing care-as-usual (CAU). Adaptations to MDET varied. These included implementing MDET without an independent MDET-team and loosening recordings of involuntary care. No differential changes in recordings were found between the implementation- and CAU-groups. Scaling-out MDET to other organizations led to adaptations that may have undermined its effects on reducing involuntary care.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a deficiency exists in comprehensive assessments of transitional programs and services tailored for students with intellectual disabilities. The present research is a systematic review to discuss the barriers to planning and implementing transitional services for students with intellectual disabilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and possible facilitators. Consequently, a thorough systematic review and exploration were conducted across ERIC - ProQuest, Education Journals - ProQuest, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Web of Science, and Scopus. The findings spotlighted various barriers from the perspective of stakeholders, categorising them as educational, familial, societal, and functional barriers. Among these, educational obstacles emerged as the most significant challenges impeding the employment prospects of students with intellectual disabilities. The results further disclosed several suggested facilitators to address these challenges, encompassing educational interventions and collaborative practices. This study furnishes decision-makers in the Kingdom, along with professionals in the realm of special education and parents, with valuable insights into the prevailing challenges illuminated by recent studies in the field, as well as the most prominent proposed solutions.