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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic poses risks to the quality of life (QoL) of relatives of individuals with intellectual disabilities. This paper investigates relatives' QoL and associated risk and buffering factors before and during the pandemic. Method: Surveys were administered to three samples of relatives in the Netherlands in 2019 (N = 105) and during the first waves of COVID‐19 in June (N = 207) and October 2020 (N = 332). Associations between QoL and care burden, care competence, social support, and resilience, and changes over time were analysed using (logistic) regressions. Results: No significant changes in overall QoL nor its domains were found. Care burden was negatively associated with QoL and increased during the pandemic. Care competence was lower than in 2019. Competence, social support, and resilience were positively associated with QoL. Conclusions: Although relatives' QoL remained stable, the pandemic poses non‐negligible risks to their wellbeing. It is, therefore, crucial to provide relatives with adequate support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This paper focuses on the transition to supported employment for people with intellectual disabilities paying particular attention to the impact of job breakdown on psychological well-being; an issue often omitted from studies. Materials and Methods Forty-nine people with intellectual disabilities were interviewed within 3 months of entering supported employment and 9–12 months later. Data collection involved in-depth interviews with people with intellectual disabilities, their carers and employers and completion of a self-report measure of depression and anxiety (an adapted form of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), and a self-report measure of quality of life (the ComQol). Results By time of the follow-up interviews, 13 of the 49 jobs had broken down. Analysis of scores measuring quality of life, anxiety and depression showed no effect for loss of employment. However, interviews with participants indicated that job loss had a considerable impact on those affected. Conclusions There were a wide range of reasons for job breakdown, many of which were particular to the circumstances of people with intellectual disabilities. Although job breakdown does not have an impact of anxiety or depression many participants found job loss traumatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health status is an important domain of quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities. This paper describes the development of a self-report health status measure for use with people with intellectual disabilities living in staffed community-based accommodation, and reports preliminary reliability data for the schedule.Question and response items were adapted from a well-established measure (SF-36) used in the general population incorporating subscales such as General Health, Physical Functioning, Bodily Pain, Vitality, Mental Health, and Sensory Functioning. A variety of closed and open response formats were used based on the growing literature examining methods for interviewing people with intellectual disabilities.Internal reliability and response consistency were investigated. Reliability for Physical Functioning, General Health and Bodily Pain was reasonable, but was unsatisfactory for Sensory Functioning, and Mental Health.The findings are discussed in light of the challenge of eliciting reliable responses from people with intellectual disabilities. Question methodologies can be built upon in further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This systematic review aimed to explore how adults with autism participate in the community, the impact of community participation on quality of life and mental health, and factors that support and hinder participation. Method: A systematic review was conducted including studies published from inception to 17 January 2021. Results: Sixty‐three reports were included, reporting on 58 studies. Solitary activities, organised group activities, community activities, religious groups and online social participation were identified. The relationship between community participation and quality of life was examined. Barriers and facilitators to increased community participation were identified. Most studies had a moderate to high risk of bias. Conclusion: Adults with autism participate in a range of independent and community activities. The impact of community participation on quality of life and mental health warrants further exploration. Future studies should find effective ways of supporting adults with autism to participate in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ageing of people with intellectual disability, accompanied with consequences like dementia, challenges intellectual disability‐care staff and creates a need for supporting methods, with Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) as a promising possibility. This study examined the effect of DCM on the quality of life of older people with intellectual disability. Methods: We performed a quasi‐experimental study in 23 group homes for older people with intellectual disability in the Netherlands, comparing DCM (n = 113) with care‐as‐usual (CAU; n = 111). Using three measures, we assessed the staff‐reported quality of life of older people with intellectual disability. Results: DCM achieved no significantly better or worse quality of life than CAU. Effect sizes varied from 0.01 to −0.22. Adjustments for covariates and restriction of analyses to people with dementia yielded similar results. Conclusion: The finding that DCM does not increase quality of life of older people with intellectual disability contradicts previous findings and deserves further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]