Key learnings from COVID ‐19 to sustain quality of life for families of individuals with IDD

Adults With IDD in Supported Accommodation During COVID-19 Lockdown: The Families' Perspective

The present study aims to understand and describe family caregivers' perceptions and experiences regarding contact and relationships with their adult relatives with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) living in supported accommodation during the COVID-19 lockdown. A qualitative phenomenological approach was applied in which 19 Israeli family caregivers (parents and siblings) were interviewed. Inductive thematic analysis revealed themes at the microsystem level (the resident, the caregiver, and their relationship), and at the mesosystem level (the caregivers' interactions with service providers and other residents' families). The findings highlight the pivotal role of family caregivers in times of uncertainty and the need to develop explicit policies and mechanisms to facilitate family engagement in the residents' lives.

What supports and services post COVID-19 do children with disabilities and their parents need and want, now and into the future?

Introduction

Children and youth with disabilities and special healthcare needs, and their families, have been uniquely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the voices of children themselves are still not well represented in the existing literature.

Methods

This qualitative descriptive study used a combination of visual methods and interviews to learn about the experiences of Canadian children with disabilities (n=18) and their parents (n=14) during the COVID pandemic and into the post-pandemic period. Data collection was carried out between January and July 2023. The aim was to identify the supports and services children and families need at present and moving forward.

Results

Families' pandemic experiences were complex and nuanced. For many, the pandemic complicated and disrupted everyday activities and supports. These disruptions were largely buffered by parents. However, some families also identified unexpected benefits. Key themes pertaining to present and future needs included the need for services that are flexible; consistent; conducive to relationship-building; comprehensive; coordinated across sectors; and designed to support the needs of the whole family.

Discussion

Implications for policy and practice are outlined.

How COVID-19 impacted people with disabilities: A qualitative study in Delaware

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for people with disabilities and their caregivers and service providers. An assessment of how the COVID-19 pandemic, and the public health response to it, inequitably impacted the health and well-being of people with disabilities is needed to improve preparedness for future public health emergencies. Interviews were conducted with the goal of documenting the impacts of COVID-19 on community-dwelling individuals in Delaware.

Study design

Qualitative interviews using a structured interview guide.

Methods

In November and December 2022, interviews were conducted with individuals with disabilities, their caregivers, governmental and non-profit service providers, and elected representatives in Delaware. Interviews focused on obtaining information related to COVID-related threats to maintaining good health, affordable and accessible housing, work, educational opportunities, transportation, and community belonging during the pandemic. Interview transcripts were inductively analyzed.

Results

Five themes were identified including changes to, or loss of, home-based medical and other services, changes in daily routines that impacted access to work and education, limits on access to transportation, financial strains and housing issues, and mental health concerns.

Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted nearly all aspects of the lives of people with disabilities. COVID-19 presented long-term, existential threats to progress made toward independent living, meaningful work, and financial, health, and educational equity for people with disabilities.

Disabled people's experiences accessing healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Disruptions to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic are well-recognised problems. However, a dearth of research exists on disabled people's experiences with accessing these services. A scoping review was undertaken to identify and explore research on the experience of disabled people in accessing healthcare services between 2020 and 6 February 2023.

METHODS

PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and OVID were employed to search for research that included the voice of disabled people, or their parents or caregivers. Over two distinct phases, a total of 2,201 articles were reviewed according to article titles, keywords, and abstracts. Eighty-one studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria; these were reviewed in full.

RESULTS

Eighteen studies specifically described the experiences of accessing healthcare or disability services, and sixty-three raised healthcare challenges as a secondary consideration. Many disabled people struggled to access healthcare services and felt they were invisible; as a result, individuals' mental health was negatively affected. Disabled people with compounding vulnerabilities were at the most risk of experiencing a lack of healthcare access.

CONCLUSIONS

There is an urgent need for research and policy that is responsive to disabled people's access to healthcare during the pandemic; currently many health policies are 'disability-blind' and exclude these members of the global community. Furthermore, to assist in creating disability-responsive research, funding needs to prioritise researchers within the disabled community.

Quality of Life of Latin-American People with Neuromuscular Disorders and Their Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire population, especially the population with chronic diseases. This study aimed to describe the quality of life of children and adults with neuromuscular diseases and their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A observational correlational study was conducted. Forty-seven participants, including adults with NMD and caregivers of children with NMD, took part in the study. The WHOQOL-BREF and PedsQL 4.0 GCS and FIM scales were used.

Results

The PedsQL indicated a mean of 55.85 (SD = 22.05) for children, and a mean of 55.76 (SD = 16.72) for caregivers. Adults reported a mean of 67 (SD = 22.5) for their general perception of quality of life, and a M = 53 (SD = 28.25) for their perception on health.

Conclusions

The results showed regular to low quality of life of all children, adults, and caregivers, mainly in the physical dimension for people with neuromuscular diseases, and in the concerns dimension for caregivers. These results warn about the physical and psychological vulnerability situation in which this population finds itself.

Resilience, and positive parenting in parents of children with syndromic autism and intellectual disability. Evidence from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family's quality of life and parent-child relationships

Family quality of life (FQoL) outcomes collected during the first year of COVID-19 has been combined with 2018 data to estimate the outbreak's impact on parental outcomes on a sample of 230 families with syndromic autistic children and those with intellectual disabilities (IDs). Despite challenges imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, our study found that FQoL outcomes reported by participating parents during the first year of COVID-19 appears to be similar to ratings from a prepandemic study of families with the same conditions. Parents of children in our sample generally displayed a stable functioning trajectory as measured by the validated FQoL instrument. Across syndromic autistic groups considered, families reported that their relationships with their children were positive. Our findings provide evidence of families' resilience which might explain the presence of positive parent-child interactions during COVID-19. Exploring mechanisms which would explain how families with autistic and ID children confront, manage disruptive experiences, and buffer COVID-19 induced stress is a fruitful direction for future research.