Research in developmental disabilities
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Both chronic pain and sleep problems are common for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Although one study has revealed a relationship between having a medical condition and sleep problems in this population, the role of pain was not examined independently. Thus, the goal of this study was to clarify the specific role of pain in children's sleep problems. ⋯ However, parents of children who were taking sleep medications reported that both Bedtime Resistance (F(1, 121) = 5.7, p = .019) and Sleep Duration (F(1, 121) = 6.0, p = .016) were more problematic for them. This data indicates pain disrupts sleep in children with IDD even when it is being managed pharmacologically, suggesting pain treatment may not be effective. These results suggest that pain should be considered during evaluation and management of sleep problems in children with IDD.
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It is common to use questionnaires and interviews to assess the emotions of staff who serve clients with intellectual disabilities. Remarkably, observations of actual staff behaviour and assessments of nonverbal expressions are usually not involved. In the present study, we have made a first start in the development of an observation instrument that registers both verbal and nonverbal expressions of emotion. ⋯ Results revealed sufficient to good interrater reliabilities regarding the observation of the three forms of emotional expression: body movement, facial expression, and verbal utterances. Low levels of explained variances between the different forms of expression showed that predictive values were weak. This means that there is a surplue value of the observation of nonverbal emotional expressions as compared to existing instruments that base their assessment on verbal and/or written responses only.
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Comparative Study
The siblings relationship of adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities.
The sibling relationship of adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities was examined. Participants were 70 sibling dyads--each dyad was comprised of one 12-year old adolescent with (N=23) or without intellectual disabilities (N=47). Sibling relationships, behavior problems, and social skills were assessed using mother reports. ⋯ Third, for typically developing adolescents, conflict was related to internalizing behavior problems. For adolescents with intellectual disabilities, conflict was related to externalizing behavior problems. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
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Because of their physical and general health problems, people with a combination of profound intellectual and severe or profound motor disabilities (PIMD) are at risk of pain-related medical conditions. They are fully dependent on support professionals for the detection and accurate interpretation of nonverbal pain behaviour. These professionals can use a recently developed instrument, the Pain Behaviour Checklist (PBC), to assess pain in post-operative situations for children with PIMD. ⋯ It seems that children display different pain-related behaviours than adults. More research is needed into the proper assessment of pain in people with PIMD, especially adults, by health care professionals in daily practice. We also need a better understanding of the extent to which the knowledge and experience of care professionals play a role in detecting (chronic) pain behaviour in both children and adults and of how people with PIMD cope with pain.
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The present paper aims to describe the hospitalization profiles which include medical expenses and length of stays, and to determine their possible influencing factors of hospital admission on persons with Down syndrome in Taiwan. We employed a population-based, retrospective analyses used national health insurance hospital discharge data of the year 2005 in this study. Subject inclusion criteria included residents of Taiwan, and diagnosed with Down syndrome (ICD code is 758.0; N=375). ⋯ Finally, the multiple regression models revealed that factors of age, hold a serious illness card, low income family member, frequency of hospital admission, high medical expense user were more likely to use longer inpatient days (R2=0.36). Annual inpatient expense of people with Down syndrome was significantly affected by factors of severe illness card holder, low income family member, frequency of hospital admission and longer hospital stays (R2=0.288). Based on these findings, we suggest the further study should focus on the effects of medical problems among persons with Down syndrome admitted for hospital care is needed.