Ageing of people with an intellectual disability: Effective training for frontline workers

Abstract

While the attainment of late life represents a significant achievement for people with an intellectual disability, increased life expectancy has resulted in growing concerns about the extent to which disability service providers are ready to meet the changing needs of increasing numbers of older people and facilitate their ongoing social inclusion. Training of frontline disability staff is widely accepted as an effective strategy for increasing organisational capacity to contribute to improved quality of life for people with an intellectual disability. The study identifies training needs analyses and 'ready-to-deliver' training programs for frontline disability services staff working with adults with an intellectual disability who are ageing, assesses whether the training programs contribute to improved quality of life outcomes for service users, and makes recommendations for future research and development of training for disability services staff who work with older people with intellectual disability.

Training of Residential Social Care Staff to Meet the Needs of Older People with Intellectual Disabilities who Develop Age‐Related Health Problems: An Exploratory Study

“…A few commented on various ways that knowledge, understanding and (in some instances) application to practice were tested either formally or informally. Nonetheless, this practice did not seem to be widespread in terms of training sessions attended and this perhaps reflects a wider issue of the impact of training not being evaluated (McGhee & Dorsett ). Furthermore, in this study, some participants raised concerns regarding the literacy and numeracy levels of some staff working within this sector and this may influence the extent to which they are able to access and understand training materials particularly if they are not delivered in a face‐to‐face manner.…”

“…). This needs to be recognized given the relevance of optimum health to overall quality of life (McGhee & Dorsett ). A greater focus in this area might also help to address inadequately managed preventable health conditions prevalent amongst older people with intellectual disabilities (Haveman et al .…”

“…Almost two decades later, limited progress is still noted (e.g. McGhee & Dorsett ; Innes et al . ; Anderson et al .…”

“…Almost two decades later, limited progress is still noted (e.g. McGhee & Dorsett 2011;Innes et al 2012;Anderson et al 2013). Bigby et al (2011) suggest that supported accommodation services should be the central focus when planning support for older people with intellectual disabilities since, as they age, they are most likely to be living within such settings.…”

“…Nonetheless, they may be limited in the level of health support that they can provide (Iacono et al 2014). There seems to be consensus that two key factors influence whether or not people with intellectual disabilities are supported to age in place: environmental considerations and staff training (Wilkinson et al 2005;Webber et al 2010;McGhee & Dorsett 2011;Innes et al 2012;Bekkema et al 2015).…”