Introduction: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be under-recognized in people with intellectual disabilities (PWID) and reviews on appropriate screening tools and prevalence are lacking. This review aims to identify PTSD screening tools for PWID and estimate the prevalence of PTSD within this population. Method: Medline, PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane, Global Health and Web of Science databases were searched (inception to October 2017) to identify eligible literature. Papers were also found via manual searches of the references of eligible studies. Studies were reviewed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, subjected to exclusion criteria, and quality appraised using STROBE criteria for observational studies and an adapted form of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for cross-sectional studies. Seven studies were identified. Meta-analysis was carried out on the prevalence studies and heterogeneity quantified using I 2. Results: Three tools for screening PTSD in PWID were found: two for use in adults (the Lancaster and Northgate Trauma Scale and the Impact of Event Scale-Intellectual Disabilities) and the Adapted Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children with PTSD. Five studies reported PTSD prevalence in PWID. The weighted pooled prevalence of PTSD in PWID was found to be 10%, 95% CI [0.4%, 19.5%], towards the upper limit of estimated PTSD prevalence in the general population (5-10%). Conclusion: PTSD can be diagnosed in PWID but may go unrecognized by healthcare professionals. The identified tools should be further compared and assessed for acceptability and efficacy to improve the identification of PTSD in PWID.
Further prevalence and unmet needs research is urgently required. A validated screening tool could assist identification and service access for FNPs with mental health problems. Services providing relatively inexpensive interventions specific to the needs of FNPs (e.g. narrative exposure therapy) should be piloted.
One approach to the analysis of ethical dilemmas in medical practice uses the "four principles plus scope" approach. These principles are: respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice, along with concern for their scope of application. However, conflicts between the different principles are commonplace in psychiatric practice, especially in forensic psychiatry, where duties to patients often conflict with duties to third parties such as the public. This article seeks to highlight some of the specific ethical dilemmas encountered in forensic psychiatry: the excessive use of segregation for the protection of others, the ethics of using mechanical restraint when clinically beneficial and the use of physical treatment without consent. We argue that justice, as a principle, should be paramount in forensic psychiatry, and that there is a need for a more specific code of ethics to cover specialised areas of medicine like forensic psychiatry. This code should specify that in cases of conflict between different principles, justice should gain precedence over the other principles.
Global events like wars and natural disasters have led to the refugee population reaching numbers not seen since the Second World War. Attitudes to asylum have hardened, with the potential to compromise the mental health needs of asylum seekers and refugees. The challenges in providing mental healthcare for asylum seekers and refugees include working with the uncertainties of immigration status and cultural differences. Ways to meet the challenges include cultural competency training, availability of interpreters and cultural brokers as well as appropriately adapting modes of therapy. Service delivery should support adjustment to life in a foreign country. Never has the need been greater for psychiatrists to play a leadership role in the area.
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