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Accessible summary Relationships and sexuality are important for disabled people., Through the voices of 16 intellectually disabled adults, this paper shows what they consider to be important in areas such as education or personal relationships., Most of the people interviewed would like to have a partner and live together as a couple., Intellectually disabled people encounter many barriers to obtain certain basic rights., Summary This study starts from the premise that we are sexual beings, and therefore, sexuality is part of our lives and defines us as human beings. This is also true with regard to intellectually disabled people. Within the framework of broader qualitative research carried out in Spain, some partial results of an ongoing study aimed at finding out what a group of adults see as important in different areas of their lives are presented here. Through the personal narratives of 16 intellectually disabled people, this paper explores some of their ideas and demands about sexuality and their sexual lives. Most of the people interviewed expressed their desire to have a partner and to live as a couple. There is no doubt that many intellectually disabled people have greater control over their lives and the decisions that affect them, but as they tell us, the presence of old ideas can hinder them from securing their fundamental rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary: Sleep hygiene education (SHE) is a "behavioural" intervention which helps parents create the best sleeping conditions for their child. It is often used to improve sleep problems that children with developmental disabilities have.SHE includes advice around creating bedtime routines, creating a calming bedroom environment and eating healthily. Lots of health and social care professionals use SHE, but there are not many research papers which show the best way to support parents to try out the advice.This research tells the story of nine parents and eleven professionals who have used SHE to help improve children's sleep problems.Their experiences are important in the research literature and will help services such as community children's learning disability teams improve the way SHE is used in the future. Background: Sleep hygiene education (SHE) is a familiar intervention for addressing behavioural sleep problems in children with developmental disabilities that involves advising parents on sleep‐promoting behaviours; however, it is supported by a limited evidence base. Materials and methods: This exploratory study aimed to enhance qualitative understanding and explore stakeholder perceptions about experience, current practice and ideas around the implementation of SHE. Parents of children with developmental disabilities and sleep problems (N = 9) and sleep practitioners (N = 11) took part in semi‐structured interviews and focus groups, and data were thematically analysed. Results and discussion: The analysis identified four parent themes: Beliefs about sleep problems; Getting professional help; Ways of knowing about sleep; and Visions of sleep support. Two practitioner themes were also identified: Sleep service accessibility and Inconsistent sleep support. Conclusion: The findings provide further insight into how parents of children with developmental disabilities experience sleep problems, and how SHE is currently implemented. These have implications for both policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the initial steps of the judicial process for persons with intellectual disabilities who are suspected of a minor offense; a stage where plaintiffs, police officers, and crown attorneys make a series of decisions that will have a significant impact on the course of the judicial process. The objective of this study was twofold: (i) to document the criteria that influence dispositions by police officers and crown attorneys about persons with intellectual disabilities in the criminal justice system (CJS), (ii) to report suggested improvements to better support them throughout the judicial process. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants from the CJS and from service and community organisations working in the field of intellectual disabilities. The results of this qualitative study indicate that decisions made and dispositions taken rely on a series of implicit criteria that influence the course of the subsequent judicial procedures against persons with an intellectual disability. Suggestions for improvement pertain to developing the screening of intellectual disability procedures, the provision of information to key actors about intellectual disabilities, a preference for the use of summons to appear over other types of procedures, and drafting memorandums of understanding between various organisations and police services regarding persons with intellectual disabilities. In conclusion, an emphasis must be put on screening and diversion procedures for persons with intellectual disabilities when appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Online therapy is becoming increasingly popular as well as necessary. There is little research regarding the experience of psychologists delivering online therapy to individuals with an intellectual disability. Method: The study used online semistructured interviews and interpretive phenological analysis to explore the experiences of five psychologists delivering online therapy to individuals with an intellectual disability. Findings: Four superordinate themes were generated from the data: Environment: "You can't control the environment"; Person centred: "I do not think it's one size fits all"; Rapport: "slightly trickier to build"; and Clinician ability and experience: "it was a bit of a learning process". Psychologists spoke of prior negative beliefs and a range of challenges to video therapy. Their discomfort with using this technology was noted; however, a motivation to continue offering therapy to clients overweighed this. All participants concluded with benefits to using video therapy, notably increased accessibility. Conclusion: A hybrid model including face‐to‐face and online therapy appears preferable for future ways of working. Training is recommended for professionals and individuals supporting clients, and an assessment tool for the suitability of online therapy. Further research exploring online therapy experiences of people with intellectual disabilities is required. Accessible summary: During COVID‐19, face‐to‐face therapy was not allowed in England. Psychologists were asked to give therapy on video calls. We wanted to find out what this is like for psychologists working with people who have learning disabilities.We asked five psychologists about their experience in providing video therapy.Psychologists described some things they found hard: It was hard to control the environment online. It was hard to make changes to therapy for people with learning disabilities. It was sometimes hard to communicate. It was hard to build relationships online. Psychologists did not have experience doing video therapy. They were not confident.Some ideas that could help: Training for psychologists and carers or families, an assessment tool to check if someone can do video therapy, and giving information about video therapy to people with learning disabilities All psychologists said there were good things about online therapy. They would like to keep using it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic changed the way we live, work, interact and do research. Many activities moved online, and digital inclusion became an urgent issue for researchers working with people with learning disabilities and other groups at risk of exclusion. This has generated new questions about how we conduct research and what it means to go into 'the field'. Methods: We discuss our experience working across four qualitative research projects involving 867 participants with learning disabilities, conducted during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Findings: Moving research online resulted in often‐swift adaptations to research designs and practice, bringing new insights and benefits to our studies. The changing circumstances fostered innovation and greater flexibility and contributed to research becoming more accessible to many. However, doing research online also posed new challenges as well as amplified existing ones. Conclusions: The pandemic has made it easier for some people with learning disabilities to participate in research, but more needs to be done to improve the reach and quality of that participation. Researchers should make the process of participation as accessible as possible. It is also their job to question and challenge the conditions that create barriers to participation in research and to look for ways to change these. We make some recommendations on how this can be achieved. Accessible summary: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, a lot of activities including research moved online. Access to the internet became even more important for people to be able to take part in the research.People with learning disabilities do not always have internet access or skills and support to use the internet. Devices and internet access can also be expensive. This means people with learning disabilities can be excluded from online activities and from research.In this article, we talk about four research projects with people with learning disabilities which we did during COVID‐19. We talk about what we did and about the changes we made to the projects because of the pandemic. We also talk about the things that worked well and the things that were difficult when we did research online.We think research should be accessible and we share some advice about how researchers can make it easier for people with learning disabilities to take part in research at a time when a lot of research happens online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible Summary: A lot of people with learning disabilities enjoy using the Internet every day and use social media on their mobile phones. Staying safe online is important.This research used interviews and focus groups to find out what children, young people, their parents and teachers thought about Internet safety, extremism and online radicalisation.Extremism is when people have strong and dangerous views about laws or religion. Radicalisation is when people support extremism in a dangerous way. People can be targeted on the Internet to talk them into supporting extremism.The young people said they knew a lot about staying safe online, but parents were concerned about risks.When people with learning disabilities learn about staying safe online, they should be given information about online radicalisation and grooming for terrorism. Background: Young people with learning disabilities are increasingly using the Internet but can be vulnerable to being victimised online. As learning disability services develop guidance on how to support Internet use, it is important to explore what support is necessary. Methods: This research used interviews and focus groups to explore what children, young people, their parents and teachers thought about Internet safety, extremism and online radicalisation. Results: Results showed that the students were active Internet users and were confident about online safety but parents were concerned about the risks associated with Internet use. Following taking part in a peer education project that focussed on Internet safety and specifically about risks of online radicalisation and extremism, the students understood possible links between grooming and online radicalisation and their teachers increased their understanding of the importance of digital engagement for their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary The number of parents with a learning disability in the United Kingdom ( UK) is growing., Parents with a learning disability do have some difficulties., Parents with a learning disability see that their learning disability is separate to being a mum or dad., Becoming a parent is important to people with a learning disability., Summary There are an increasing number of parents with a learning disability in the UK. Existing research in the area suggests that this group of parents face a number of issues including social isolation and over-representation in child protection systems. This study explored what parents understood about their learning disability and how they perceived this to impact on them in their parenting role. This exploratory study adopted a qualitative approach, involving semi-structured interviews with eight parents (three mothers, five fathers). The study suggested that as a result of having a learning disability parents experience some difficulties, however, these tend to be related to specific tasks only. In their parenting role, three separate identities were conveyed: as a person with a learning disability; as a mother or father, and as an individual (outside of their identity with learning disability or parenthood). The findings presented here are drawn from a larger qualitative study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protection of those deemed vulnerable has received increasing attention since 2000. This article reports on care staff views of vulnerability using original data from a research study (Parley. Vulnerability and abuse: an exploration of views of care staff working with people who have learning disabilities, PhD Thesis, 2007) in which care staff views relating to vulnerability and abuse of adults with learning disability were explored. Using semi-structured interview informants perspectives were explored. The results revealed that most informants felt that people with learning disabilities are all vulnerable and that this definition allows staff the authority to take protective measures to ensure their safety. This desire to introduce protective measures however may result in people with learning disabilities being denied the right to self-determination, thereby limiting their enjoyment of some life experiences and lessening the excitement of life that others take for granted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A qualitative interview study was undertaken to determine the information and support needs of carers of adults who have Down’s syndrome and dementia. The data were analysed thematically. Carers’ information and support needs were seen to change at pre-diagnosis, diagnosis and post-diagnosis. Helping carers to manage the changing nature of the adult with dementia is seen to be an essential part of the health professional’s role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many professionals working with individuals with intellectual disability are unconcerned with why someone has the impairment. Genetic aspects may be viewed as, at best irrelevant, but more often, potentially negative. However, where the intellectual disability may be inherited, there are implications for family members and the individual. The data reported here derive from a study of the experiences of families with many boys or men with intellectual disability who were participating in genetic research aimed at finding new causes of intellectual disability. A qualitative design was used, interviewing 120 members of 37 kinships and using framework analysis to explore the data. These family members were positive about participating in the genetic research. They wanted an explanation for what was going on in their family and to enable other family members to have choices about reproduction although the genetic research was unlikely to benefit individuals with intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]