ABSTRACT
Two indicators for stress (mood and aggressive behavior) were evaluated in order to investigate the effect of the restrictions taken against the spread of the coronavirus on people who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) and have intellectual disabilities (ID). In three therapeutic living communities, specifically designed for the visual communication needs of people who are DHH and have ID, the mood of the residents is routinely assessed by staff members and every aggressive incident is recorded with the Staff Observation of Aggressions Scale-Revised (SOAS-R). For the 38 residents who were present 8 weeks before the first lockdown (t1) and the following 8 weeks (t2), mood ratings and ratings of aggressive behavior were compared between the two time periods. In contrast to our hypothesis the mood ratings of the residents had a slight significant improvement, whereas the incidents and severity of aggressive behavior did not change significantly. These results suggest that with proper communicative support, individuals who are DHH and have ID can cope effectively with significant restrictions imposed by a pandemic-caused lockdown.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , Communicable Disease Control/methods , Intellectual Disability/epidemiology , Pandemics , Persons With Hearing Impairments/rehabilitation , Adult , Aged , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective Studies , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: During COVID-19 measures face-to-face contact is limited and professional carers have to find other ways to support people with intellectual disabilities. COVID-19 measures can increase stress in people with intellectual disabilities, although some people may adapt to or grow from these uncertain situations. Resilience is the process of effectively negotiating, adapting to, or managing significant sources of stress and trauma. The current study aims to provide professional carers with new insights into how they can support people with intellectual disabilities. METHOD: An online survey was shared through the social media and organizational newsletters of MEE ZHN (a non-governmental organization for people with disabilities). The resilience framework by Ungar (2019) was adapted to fit to people with intellectual disabilities during COVID-19 measures. Statistical analyses were performed in SPSS statistics version 26. RESULTS: Results show that professional carers applied diverse and distal methods to maintain contact with people with intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 measures. Professional carers reported a significant decrease in the quality of contact with clients with intellectual disabilities, but overall high levels of resilience in the same clients. IMPLICATIONS: Online methods of communication are possibly insufficient for professionals to cover all needs of people with intellectual disabilities. During this pandemic professionals should be aware of stress but also of resilience in people with intellectual disabilities.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Caregivers , Disabled Persons , Intellectual Disability , Psychosocial Support Systems , Resilience, Psychological , Attitude of Health Personnel , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19/psychology , Caregivers/psychology , Caregivers/statistics & numerical data , Disabled Persons/psychology , Disabled Persons/rehabilitation , Female , Humans , Intellectual Disability/epidemiology , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Male , Netherlands/epidemiology , Professional-Patient Relations , Quality of Health Care , SARS-CoV-2 , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oasi Research Institute of Troina (Italy) became an important hotbed for infection; in fact, 109 patients with different levels of Intellectual Disability (ID) tested positive for COVID-19. The procedures and interventions put in place at the Oasi Research Institute due to the COVID-19 pandemic are exhaustively reported in this paper. The description of the clinical procedures as well as remote/in person psychological support services provided to people with ID and their families are here divided into three different sections: Phase I (or Acute phase), Phase II (or Activity planning), and Phase III (or Activity consolidation). In each section, the main psycho-pathological characteristics of patients, the reactions of family members and the multidisciplinary interventions put in place are also described.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/epidemiology , Developmental Disabilities/rehabilitation , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Psychosocial Support Systems , Telemedicine , Academies and Institutes , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Autism Spectrum Disorder/epidemiology , Autism Spectrum Disorder/psychology , Autism Spectrum Disorder/rehabilitation , COVID-19/mortality , COVID-19/physiopathology , COVID-19/psychology , Child , Child, Preschool , Comorbidity , Developmental Disabilities/epidemiology , Developmental Disabilities/psychology , Disease Hotspot , Disease Outbreaks , Epilepsy/epidemiology , Female , Hospitals, Special , Humans , Hypothyroidism/epidemiology , Infant , Intellectual Disability/epidemiology , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Italy , Male , Middle Aged , Mood Disorders/epidemiology , Mood Disorders/psychology , Mood Disorders/rehabilitation , Obesity/epidemiology , Overweight/epidemiology , Personality Disorders/epidemiology , Personality Disorders/psychology , Personality Disorders/rehabilitation , Psychotic Disorders/epidemiology , Psychotic Disorders/psychology , Psychotic Disorders/rehabilitation , Respiratory Distress Syndrome/physiopathology , SARS-CoV-2 , Severity of Illness Index , Young AdultABSTRACT
The COVID-19 epidemic caused disruption and dislocation in the lives of people with disabilities, their families, and providers. What we have learned during this period regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the service system for people with disabilities should provide a roadmap for building a more robust and agile system going forward. Based on a canvas of leaders in our field, I propose a way of outlining a reimagined system.
Subject(s)
Betacoronavirus , Coronavirus Infections/prevention & control , Developmental Disabilities/rehabilitation , Health Services/trends , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Pandemics/prevention & control , Pneumonia, Viral/prevention & control , COVID-19 , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Coronavirus Infections/psychology , Developmental Disabilities/epidemiology , Developmental Disabilities/psychology , Humans , Intellectual Disability/epidemiology , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Pneumonia, Viral/psychology , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 outbreak, service providers in the Netherlands had to switch towards providing remote support for people with intellectual disabilities living independently. This study aims to provide insight into the use of online support during the outbreak. METHODS: We analysed quantitative data on planned and unplanned contacts between the online support service DigiContact and its service users. RESULTS: The results indicate that the COVID-19 outbreak and the related containment measures had a strong impact on online support use, specifically on the unplanned use of online support. CONCLUSION: Offering online support as a standard component of services for independently living people with intellectual disability enables service providers to be flexible and responsive towards fluctuations in both support needs and onsite support availability during a social crisis such as COVID-19.