Experiences of mothers caring for a child with an intellectual disability during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands

BACKGROUND

During the first COVID-19 lockdown period, various restrictions led to diminished access to both educational and professional support systems for children with an intellectual disability and their families. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and needs of parents caring for a child with an intellectual disability during the first lockdown period in the Netherlands.

METHOD

Five mothers caring for a child with an intellectual disability participated in this qualitative study. The participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews lasted between 26 and 48 min. The interview recordings were transcribed verbatim, and the transcripts were analysed thematically.

RESULTS

Three overarching themes emerged: (1) We need to stay healthy, which centres on the mother's urge to protect their child's well-being; (2) We make it work, which provides insight into how the mothers were handling the drastic changes in their family; and (3) My child's and family's place in the world, which focuses on the mothers' experienced position in the world around them.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study provides valuable insights into the experiences and needs of mothers caring for a child with an intellectual disability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Development of the guideline ‘Challenging behaviour in adults with intellectual disability’

Background

Challenging Behaviour (CB) is a common problem among people with intellectual disability (ID), leading to a lower quality of life and a negative impact on the emotional well-being of family, staff and fellow clients. Additionally, reduced access to community services and (avoidable) high consumption of specialist care has been reported. This presentation will offer information on the development and content of the Dutch multidisciplinary guideline ‘Challenging behaviour in adults with ID’ that will be published in 2019.

Methods

The guideline was developed on the basis of the methodologic strategy of the AGREE II instrument. Two systematic reviews were conducted. Additionally, healthcare professionals were surveyed through an online questionnaire, interviews (n = 14) and focus groups (n = 6), and interviews were conducted with adults with ID (n = 20) and their family (n = 16). The draft guideline was reviewed by stakeholders and underwent a practice test.

Results

The first module of the guideline describes the assessment of (1) the CB itself, (2) potential factors that contribute to the presence or continuation of CB, and (3) the context in which CB occurs. Implementation will lead to a comprehensive, integrated diagnosis and assessment of the CB, the person and context.

Module 2 enables health professionals to systematically and transparently select and apply interventions to resolve CB, whilst taking into account multiple factors as well as the specific context in which the CB occurs.

Module 3 provides the medical, legal and ethical framework for (off-label) prescription of psychotropics. It explains the process for starting and discontinuing (off-label) psychotropics, the selection of appropriate medication and dosages, and the monitoring and evaluation of effects and side-effects.

Conclusions

The guideline is based on state of the art scientific and practice-based evidence and will contribute to a more structured approach in the care for people with ID and CB.

Key messages

Challenging behaviour is a common problem among people with intellectual disability and can have a negative impact on quality of life and the emotional well-being of family, staff and fellow clients. The development of the multidisciplinary guideline ‘Challenging behaviour in adults with ID’ can help to better understand and treat challenging behaviour in people with ID.

A consensus statement on how to conduct inclusive health research

BACKGROUND

The active involvement of people with intellectual disabilities in research, or inclusive research, is relatively common. However, inclusive health research is less common, even though it is expected to lead to appropriate healthcare and increased quality of life. Inclusive health research can build upon lessons learned from inclusive research.

METHOD

A total of 17 experts on inclusive (health) research without intellectual disabilities and 40 experts with intellectual disabilities collaborated in this consensus statement. The consensus statement was developed in three consecutive rounds: (1) an initial feedback round; (2) a roundtable discussion at the 2016 International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities World Congress; and (3) a final feedback round.

RESULTS

This consensus statement provides researchers with guidelines, agreed upon by experts in the field, regarding attributes, potential outcomes, reporting and publishing, and future research directions, for designing and conducting inclusive health research.

CONCLUSIONS

Consensus was reached on how to design and conduct inclusive health research. However, this statement should be continuously adapted to incorporate recent knowledge. The focus of this consensus statement is largely on inclusive health research, but the principles can also be applied to other areas.

Distinguishing subtypes of extrinsic motivation among people with mild to borderline intellectual disability

BACKGROUND

According to self-determination theory, motivation is ordered in types, including amotivation, extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Self-determination theory defines four subtypes of extrinsic motivation: external motivation, introjected motivation, identified motivation and integrated motivation. Although it has been argued theoretically that the different types of motivation are universally applicable, Reid et al. () proposed a dichotomy of broad subtypes of extrinsic motivation for people with intellectual disability (ID) due to their cognitive limitations. The current study challenges this proposal by testing whether the four subtypes of extrinsic motivation can be differentiated among people with ID as well.

METHOD

The subtypes of extrinsic motivation were measured using two adapted versions of the Self-Regulation Questionnaire, one regarding exercise and one regarding support. In total, 186 adults with mild to borderline ID participated in the study.

RESULTS

Results supported the distinction between the four subtypes of extrinsic motivation regarding both exercise and support. In addition, the correlation coefficients supported a quasi-simplex pattern of correlations among the subtypes, indicating that adjacent subtypes were more closely related than non-adjacent subtypes. Moreover, the study showed sufficient Cronbach's alphas and test-retest reliabilities for early stage research.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the results of the current study provide initial evidence for the universality of the four subtypes of extrinsic motivation across populations with and without ID.

Towards a framework in interaction training for staff working with clients with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour

BACKGROUND

Training support staff in dealing with challenging behaviour in clients with intellectual disabilities (ID) is needed. The goal of this study is to determine which elements need to be incorporated in a training on staff interactions with these clients, building upon a framework and an interpersonal model. As in functional analysis, this study tests the influence of client interpersonal behaviour, three types of staff reactions to challenging behaviour, two types of staff psychological resources and staff team climate on four styles of staff interpersonal behaviour.

METHOD

A total of 318 support staff members completed a questionnaire on staff interpersonal behaviour for 44 clients with ID and challenging behaviour, as well as seven questionnaires on client interpersonal behaviour, staff emotions, attributions, self-efficacy, self-reflection, coping styles and team climate. The influence of these seven factors on four staff interpersonal behaviours was examined using multilevel multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS

Friendly-warm and dominant client interpersonal behaviour had a significant positive impact on friendly and assertive control staff behaviour, respectively. Also, there was a strong influence of staff negative and positive emotions, as well as their self-efficacy, on most of the staff interpersonal behaviours. Staff self-reflection, insight and avoidance-focused coping style had an impact on some staff interpersonal behaviours. Staff team climate only predicted higher support-seeking staff behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS

In conducting a functional analysis of staff interpersonal behaviour, the results of this study can be used both as a framework in staff-client interaction training and in clinical practice for treating challenging behaviour. The emphasis in training and practice should not only be on the bidirectional dynamics of control and affiliation between staff and clients, but also - in order of importance - on the impact of staff emotions, self-efficacy, self-reflection and insight, coping style, team climate and attributions on staff interpersonal behaviour.

Sexual risk assessment for people with intellectual disabilities

Given that sexually offensive behavior on the part of people with intellectual disabilities has been identified as a significant problem, we developed a risk assessment questionnaire, that takes not only various static and dynamic factors into account but also environmental risk variables. Psychologists and staff members completed this Risk Inventarization Scale on Sexually Offensive Behavior of Clients with Intellectual Disabilities for 56 intellectually disabled clients with sexually offensive behavior problems. The scale contains static client variables (rated using two- or five-point likert scales and open questions) and both dynamic client and environmental variables (rated using a five-point Likert scale). Factor analyses of the dynamic client and environmental variables revealed three subscales: quality of supervision, offending behavior and emotional and social stability. Reliability analyses showed sufficient to good reliability for both the total scale (r=0.82) and the identified subscales (quality of guidance r=0.94; offending behavior r=0.75, and emotional and social stability r=0.58). Correlational analyses of the quality of guidance subscale showed high positive correlations with such static variables as values and norms, living conditions, and criminal offenses in early youth. Because both dynamic and environmental variables can be altered, the implications for treatment of the sexually offensive behavior of clients with intellectual disabilities are discussed further.

Social information processing in boys with autistic spectrum disorder and mild to borderline intellectual disabilities

BACKGROUND

Children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and mild to borderline intellectual disability (ID) have less adaptive behaviour and more behaviour problems than children with mild to borderline ID. Social information processing appears to be an important mechanism in the explanation of the socially inadequate behaviour of children with mild to borderline ID; however, little is known about the social information processing skills of children with ASD and mild to borderline ID.

METHOD

In the present study, a total of 136 boys in the age of 10-14 years participated; 26 with ASD (specifically Pervasive Developmental Disorder--Not Otherwise Specified) and mild to borderline ID, 54 with mild to borderline ID without ASD and 56 typically developing boys. They completed the Social Problem Solving Test to measure their social information processing.

RESULTS

The research results show boys with PDD-NOS and mild to borderline ID to differ from typically developing boys in their encoding of information; they focus on negative and emotional information in the social situation. They differ from boys with mild to borderline ID in response generation, evaluation of inadequate solutions (aggressive and submissive responses) and assertive response decision.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study extends our knowledge regarding social information processing of children with ASD (PDD-NOS) and mild to borderline ID. This knowledge may be helpful in designing and adapting programmes (e.g. social skills training, self-management training) for the management of behaviour problems and development of adaptive behaviour of children with ASD and mild to borderline ID.