Journal of Intellectual Disabilities

The objective was to identify intellectual disability nursing interventions and their impact on the health and healthcare of people with intellectual disability. Data was collected using an online survey questionnaire from a voluntary response and snowball sample of 230 participants. Thematic, descriptive statistical, and inferential statistical analyses were undertaken. We identified 878 interventions that could be undertaken by intellectual disability nurses from 7 countries. We categorised the interventions into five themes: effectuating nursing procedures, enhancing impact of intellectual disability services, enhancing impact of mainstream services, enhancing quality of life, and enhancing intellectual disability nursing practice. Findings demonstrate that intellectual disability nurses play important roles in improving the health and healthcare experiences of people with intellectual disability.

The overall objective of this research was to identify intellectual disability nursing interventions and their impact on the health and healthcare of people with intellectual disability. This is part 3 of a 4-part series. In this paper we report the findings from quantitative questions from an online survey of intellectual disability nurses. The objective of this part of the study was to a evaluate intellectual disability nurses’ confidence in their understanding of the interventions they undertook. Quantitative data was collected using an online survey questionnaire from a voluntary response and snowball sample of 230 participants from 7 countries. Thematic, descriptive statistical, and inferential statistical analyses were undertaken. The evaluation data suggest and demonstrate a lack of clarity among intellectual disability nurses of the interventions they can effectively undertake. There appears to be correlations between lack of role clarity and the types of employer organisations and countries. Further work need to be undertaken by nurse leaders ascertain and address this lack of clarity.

Internationally, there is a wide variety of roles and expectations for intellectual disabilities nurses, and the range of nursing interventions they undertake in this field has not been clearly identified. In this paper we report the impacts of intellectual nursing interventions from an online survey of intellectual disability nurses. An online survey, using voluntary response sampling was used to collect case study examples from 230 participants from seven countries. We identified 13 themes of the impacts, and 23 broad groups of case examples of intellectual disability nursing interventions with, pregnant women, children, adults, older adults, and people at the end of life. Awareness of the roles of intellectual disability nurses and their importance in addressing health inequalities and facilitating the use of mainstream services for people with intellectual disabilities will enable improved healthcare experience and healthcare outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities.

We aimed to identify the main challenges in the gynecological care and management of patients with intellectual disability by gynecologists. Gynecologists answered to online questionnaires about situations in which the professional reports their confidence in caring for patients with intellectual disability. Were studied 143 responses, 75% women. Among them, 53.8% felt apprehensive to conduct a routine gynecological screening, 60% were confident in advising about contraceptive services and examining the genitals. The greatest difficulty was indicating drugs to suppress menstruation and managing patients with severe intellectual disability. The female doctors were more prepared in the care of disability patients and recent certified gynecologists were more insecure. The main difficulty was time for examinations (39.2%) and the main solution was to improve medical training (64.2%). The main challenges of the gynecologist included the amount of time needed to provide clinical services, the lack of knowledge and skill; and ethical concerns.

The objective of this scoping review was to summarise evidence on the contribution of intellectual disabilities nurses to improve the health and well-being of children, adults and older people with intellectual disability, now and for the future. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (for Scoping Reviews) (PRISMA-ScR) process and Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidance was used. We included 54 publications. We identified 154 interventions undertaken by intellectual disability nurses. We categorised the intellectual disability nursing interventions into three themes: effectuating nursing procedures, enhancing impact of services, and enhancing quality of life.

Findings point to high quality research being essential in determining the impact and effectiveness of intellectual disability nursing interventions across the lifespan. We recommend that a searchable online compendium of intellectual disability nurse interventions be established and regularly updated. This will provide opportunities to engage more effectively in evidence-based practice.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability is statistically higher than in the general population. There is a lack of consensus on the role that epilepsy plays in psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability. We carried out a systematic review of articles published between 1960 and 2022, focusing on high-quality, case-control original research studies that only included adult populations. The primary outcome was the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability with and without epilepsy. Six articles were finally included. Results were varied; some reported a statistical increase, whereas others did not find any statistical difference. Due to the current controversy on the role of epilepsy in psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability and the small number of publications on the topic, we cannot affirm a relationship between epilepsy and psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability.

This systematic review aimed to explore the impact educational interventions have on undergraduate nursing and medical students' attitudes and empathy levels towards people with disability. There are over one billion people with some form of disability currently. A growing body of research reveals that nurses and doctors display negative attitudes including decreased empathy towards people with disability. A systematic review using narrative synthesis of chosen randomized controlled trials was employed. A comprehensive search was completed in June 2021 on six databases (CINAHL, Medline, Science Direct, Health Research Premium - PROQUEST, Scopus. Cochrane Library). The search strategy yielded 21,616 studies and only three randomised controlled trials fulfilled the eligibility criteria. These trials included 125 participants (n = 50 medical students and n = 75 nursing students) and evaluated the effectiveness of a disabled health course, disability education module with bedside teaching and wheelchair workshop intervention. Findings from one study revealed that a disabled health course using affective learning method based on a transformative learning theory significantly improves attitudes to disability amongst nursing students however there was no statistically significant difference in empathy levels. More high-quality randomised controlled trials with greater theoretical and methodological complexity are needed to identify more effective educational approaches that enhance attitude and empathy levels of these key stakeholders.

Down Syndrome, or Trisomy 21, is one of the most common birth defects, with 6,000 babies born annually with Down Syndrome in the U.S. One of many health risk factors individuals with Down Syndrome experience is sleep issues, ranging from poor sleep quality to high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea. This literature review aims to review these sleep challenges in this population and explore consequences and treatment options.

Down-syndrome the most common genetic disorder worldwide. Whole-body-vibration-exercise (WBVE) has been recommended for individuals with Down-syndrome. To verify the efficacy of WBVE on sleep disorders, body-composition (BC) and clinical parameters of children with Down-syndrome. It is a randomized cross-over-trial. Children with Down-syndrome, 5-12 years, both-genders will be selected. The sleep disorders will be evaluated by the “Infant sleep questionnaire Reimão and Lefevre” and by the “Sleep disturbance scale in children”. The BC will be measure by bioimpedance and the skin temperature using infrared-thermography. WBVE will be performed seating in an ancillary-chair or sitting on the base of the vibrating platform, with 2.5 mm, 5Hz. Each session (5 series, 30-seconds on vibration, 1-minute of rest). It is expected improvement responses on sleep, BC and some clinical parameters. It is expected that this WBVE protocol will bring important clinical contributions for children with Down-syndrome.