Facilitating employment opportunities for adults with intellectual and developmental disability through parents and social networks

Purpose: People with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) have historically had high unemployment and underemployment rates and continue to face significant barriers to attaining and sustaining employment. The purpose of this research, conducted in Ontario, Canada was to better understand the experiences of people with IDD gaining and keeping productivity roles. Method: We used qualitative semi-structured interviews with 74 participants with IDD and their families or caregivers as proxies regarding the employment of a person with IDD. We selected a sample of persons from three different geographic regions in Ontario, Canada, and analyzed data through coding methods consistent with a grounded theory approach. Results: Our results demonstrate the importance of parents and other members of social and family networks relative to connecting with work options and sustaining work over time, especially through continued advocacy and investment. Parents helped individuals with IDD negotiate the right job fit, though they often encountered challenges as a result of their efforts. Conclusion: Practitioners must understand how to support parents to be effective advocates for their adult children with IDD, assist them to develop and maintain their social networks and help them to avoid caregiver burnout.

• Implications for Rehabilitation

• People with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) face numerous challenges in indentifying work options and overcoming barriers to employment.

• Parents and other non-paid support members of social networks can be instrumental in ensuring that persons with IDD not only secure initial job placements, but also sustain employment and employment alternatives.

• Professionals that support persons with IDD can direct their efforts to helping persons with IDD develop strong social connections, as well as helping parents to prevent burnout.

     

From mainstream employment to mainstream retirement: A randomised controlled trial of a transition to retirement intervention for adults with intellectual disability

Background

We evaluated a transition to retirement intervention that adapted strategies used to support employment of people with intellectual disability in mainstream workplaces. The intervention facilitated their independent participation in mainstream community groups and volunteering.

Methods

We randomised 29 older Australians who currently/previously worked in mainstream employment into an intervention group or wait-list control group. Hours of independent participation in target activities were collected before and after the 13-week initial intervention/waiting period, and at 52 weeks for intervention participants.

Results

Six of the 12 intervention participants selected an activity and increased hours of independent participation following 13 weeks in the Keeping Active (KA) program and eight were independently accessing their selected activity at 52-week follow-up. None of the 19 wait-list participants increased their independent participation after 13 weeks.

Conclusions

The intervention was effective and highlighted the need to account for factors such as participant choice in evaluation of individualised programs.     

Behavioural sleep problems in children and adults with intellectual disabilities: An integrative literature review

Background

People with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience sleep problems, which can affect quality of life, physical health, mental health and well-being.

Methods

An integrative literature review was conducted to investigate what is known about behavioural sleep disturbances in people with an intellectual disability. The search used the following databases: Scopus, PsycInfo and Cinahl, to find papers published since 2015.

Results

Within intellectual disability research, sleep appears as a common issue due to its high prevalence, negative relationships with an individual's physical and mental health, their quality of life, and impact of sleep problems on family or carers. The growing evidence base appears to support the use of behavioural, lifestyle and pharmacological interventions to improve sleep in people with an intellectual disability.

Conclusion

A wide array of literature provides evidence that people with intellectual disabilities are affected by and need support with their sleep.     

Important aspects of participation and participation restrictions in people with a mild intellectual disability

Abstract

Purpose: This study explored a possibility to assess the concepts of participation and participation restrictions in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) by combining self-ratings of the perceived importance with the actual performance of different everyday activities in people with a mild intellectual disability. Method: Structured interviews regarding 68 items from the ICF activity/participation domain were conducted (n?=?69). The items were ranked by perceived importance, performance and by combined measures. Furthermore, the measures were related to a single question about subjective general well-being. Results: Rankings of performance highlighted about the same items as “important participation”, while rankings of low performance addressed quite different items compared with “important participation restriction”. Significant correlations were found between subjective general well-being and high performance (r?=?0.56), high performance/high importance (important participation) (r?=?0.56), low performance (r?=?–0.56) and low performance/high importance (important participation restriction; r?=?–0.55). Conclusions: The results support the clinical relevance of the ICF and the studied selection of 68 items. Although performance only may sometimes be a relevant aspect, knowledge about the relationship between the perceived importance and the actual performance is essential for clinical interventions and for research aiming to understand specific needs regarding participation.

• Implications for Rehabilitation

• The concepts of participation and participation restriction are highly relevant in people with a mild intellectual disability.

• Self-rated performance might be sufficient to assess participation at a group level.

• In clinical practices, the relationship between the perceived importance and the actual performance of an activity is essential to assess.