History of the roles of nurses caring for persons with mental retardation

Barriers to Supported Employment for Persons With Developmental Disabilities

“…The relocation of persons with DD to the community from institutions and other residential settings will result in the increased likelihood that nurses will encounter such persons in their practice in all settings in which health care is provided. Thus, nurses need knowledge and information about the physical and mental health needs of this population (Ailey, 2003) and the challenges they face in integrating into the communities in which they live (Nehring, 2003). Research is needed to identify interventions, evaluate outcomes, and revise standards of nursing practice for this population, focusing on all aspects of health and life quality.…”

“…A LTHOUGH NURSING PRACTICE guidelines in the area of developmental disability (DD) nursing are limited (Nehring, 2003), nursing has a long history of caring for individuals with developmental disabilities in a wide range of settings: hospitals, schools, public health departments, and long-term care facilities. Although they typically do not provide vocational rehabilitation, nurses require an understanding of the challenges individuals with DDs face in obtaining and maintaining meaningful employment.…”

“You Had To Just Kind Of Rub Her Cheek”: Memories and Emotions of Mental Deficiency Nurses in Alberta, Canada, 1945 - 1975

“…The term developmental disability is also used. In the United States, nurses can obtain a certificate in developmental disability nursing, also called special needs nursing, following their registration as registered nurses or licensed practical nurses (Nehring, 2003(Nehring, , 2010. In New Zealand, institutions for people with a developmental disability were renamed psychopaedic hospitals in 1963, and a registry for so-called psychopaedic nurses trained in the care of children with intellectual disabilities was established.…”

A challenge to nursing: an historical review of intellectual disability nursing in the UK and Ireland

“…In South Africa, for instance, there were nine mental nursing training schools, in comparison to two for mental deficiency. The USA also adopted a nursing solution to such care, but based it within the ambit of psychiatric nursing (Devine 1983, Nehring 1991, 2003). Possibly the anomaly between approaches to care arose as a consequence of the development of a medicalised colony system for ‘mental defectives’ in Britain which, in becoming mental deficiency hospitals, were to require a trained workforce of nurses (Thomson 1998).…”