Background Stressful life events such as bereavement, moving house and changing jobs have repeatedly been implicated as risk factors for mental and physical ill health. Since the 1940s, researchers have demonstrated the negative effects of stressful life events, refined methods of recording such events and investigated the relative impact of different types of event. These investigations have generally not extended to include people with intellectual disabilities. Methods We conducted a narrative review of research on life events as they occur to people with intellectual disabilities and critically assessed the evidence that life events function as a risk factor for psychological problems. Evidence was reviewed for an association between life events and a range of outcome variables, including affective disorders, challenging behaviour, psychosis and psychological problems more generally. We also critiqued the methodology behind the current evidence base and discussed a number of methodological advances that would help to strengthen it. Conclusions There is reasonable evidence that life events are associated with psychological problems,

Self-report scales for mindfulness are now widely used in applied settings, and have made a contribution to research, for instance in demonstrating mediation effects. To date there are no convincing data as to whether mindfulness skills generalise fully across life domains, and so some researchers have developed mindfulness scales for particular domains of behaviour. We present the development of a self-report scale to measure mindfulness with respect to eating behaviours. A previous measure, the Mindful Eating Questionnaire, whilst possessing good psychometric properties, does not agree well with standard definitions of mindfulness or possess a factor structure similar to well-researched generic mindfulness scales. We developed an item pool based on items drawn from popular generic measures of mindfulness and the resultant questionnaire was completed by 127 university students (77.2% female, M age 25.65 years, SD age 8.89 years).

Purpose: Caring for people with cancer or an intellectual disability (ID) is stressful: little is known about the combined impact of caring for cancer patients with an ID, though this is expected to be especially challenging. Method: Eighty-three nurses, working in oncology or a related field (i.e. palliative care) were recruited. Perceptions of caring for patients with and without an ID were measured, alongside potentially confounding information about participant demographic characteristics and perceived stress. Results: Participants felt less comfortable communicating with patients with an ID about their illness (F(1,82) = 59.52, p < 0.001), more reliant on a caregiver for communication (F(1,82) = 26.29, p < 0.001), and less confident that the patient's needs would be identified (F(1,82) = 42.03, p < 0.001) and met (F(1,81) = 62.90, p < 0.001). Participants also believed that caring for this patient group would induce more stress, compared with patients without an ID (F(1,81) = 31.592, p < 0.001). Previous experience working with ID patient groups appears to mitigate some perceptions about providing care to this population. Conclusions: Caring for cancer patients with an ID may intensify this, already difficult, role. Through training and knowledge exchange, oncology nurse's confidence in communication, providing appropriate care, and positivity towards this patient group may be improved

Background Several studies have reported relationships between life events and psychological problems in people with intellectual disabilities. In contrast to the general literature, data have consistently been collected via proxy informants and putative moderator variables such as social support have not been examined. Materials and Methods Thirty-eight adults with intellectual disabilities completed three psychological measures in a semi-structured interview setting: the Bangor Life Events Schedule for Intellectual Disabilities Self-Report, the Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Social Network Map. Results Exposure to life events was positively associated with measures of psychological problems. Social support was generally not found to be associated with psychological problems, although more psychological problems were reported by participants who also reported more criticism of them by others. Conclusion Findings are broadly consistent with the proxy-report literature, though self-report measures may prove more sensitive. A number of methodological issues, clinical implications, and future research directions are discussed.

Interestingly, emergent concepts were consistent with general psycho-oncology literature; however, incidence and severity of difficulty was substantially greater in this sample. This disparity warrants further exploration, with a need for intervention research to develop effective ways of supporting health care professionals in enhancing patient-centered skills with this population. In the clinical setting, patient involvement in health care decisions (despite problems associated with comorbidity) is imperative to optimize engagement.