Collaboration and guidelines for the coordination of health care for frail older persons with intellectual disability: A national survey of nurses working in municipal care.

AIMS: To describe and compare perceptions of collaboration between care providers on the part of three groups of Registered Nurses working in municipal care and having particular responsibility concerning the care of frail older people with intellectual disability (ID); and, furthermore, to investigate the presence of and compliance with guidelines for the coordination of care. DESIGN: National survey study with cross-sectional design. METHODS: Nurses (N = 110) with key positions concerning people with ID answered a national questionnaire about collaboration, guidelines and coordinated individual plans. Descriptive and comparative statistical analyses were applied. RESULTS: The meetings on cooperation and coordination of interventions were attended most frequently by nurses, and least frequently by social workers. The nurses were overall satisfied with the collaboration but perceived shortcomings in the case of inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care. Only in about half of the meetings for making care plans participated the people with intellectual disability and next of kin.

Healthy Ageing in People with Intellectual Disabilities from Managers' Perspective: A Qualitative Study.

An increasing number of people with intellectual disability (ID) are reaching older ages today although they experience more health problems than the older population without ID. Leaders in intellectual disability services can greatly influence the conditions for a healthy ageing, and the aim of the present study was to explore healthy ageing in this group from the perspective of the leaders. Interviews with 20 leaders were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The findings gave rise to the overall theme ageing in dependence, which emerged from the following six categories: Supporting self-determination; Inaccessible activities after retirement; Signs of decline; Increased and specific needs for support and care; A non-question of gender; Aspects concerning the end of life and death. A prerequisite for healthy ageing in the case of people with ID is, according to the leaders, that they can live the life according to their preferences and make independent choices whilst at the same time receiving adequate support. With the shrinking of their social network after retirement, they become increasingly dependent on staff and leaders in the group home, who need to know what healthy ageing implies.

Observed parental needs during their child's hospitalization.

Hospitalization involves that parents are in an unfamiliar environment and their parental role changes. The purpose of this study was to study parental needs during the course of events when their child is hospitalized. Thirty-five parents of 24 children (aged 5 months to 18 years) were followed by observers during their child's hospitalization at a pediatric department in Sweden. Field notes were analyzed by manifest and latent coding. Nine themes characterizing parental needs were identified in the analysis. The themes consisted of the need for security, mediating security to the child, communication, control, pleasing staff, being a competent parent, the family, relief, and satisfying personal needs. The most prominent needs were the need for security and mediating security to the child.