Purpose
As Clinical Psychologists working in a tertiary Intellectual Disability (ID) service in the UK, this paper aims to address the impact of Covid-19 – and the subsequent transition out of Covid-19 restrictions – on individuals with an ID, and the clinicians working alongside them. Additionally, the paper reflects upon how Covid-19 has shaped and manipulated therapeutic communities and environments.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is reflective in nature and reviews current evidence associated with how people with an ID experienced the impact of Covid-19. Clinicians reflect upon their shared experience in line with this evidence.
Findings
This paper highlights perpetuating inequalities and injustices on people with an ID as a result of Covid-19. Further, it is indicated that that there should be consideration of how people with an intellectual disability experience transitions back to their day-to-day environments and encourages clinicians to widely consider how to shape therapeutic communities and environments.
Originality/value
Multiple themes have been addressed in this paper, and the reflections add to an understanding of how those individuals specifically working in, or using intellectual disability services, have experienced the Covid-19 pandemic, though a critical lens.
Purpose
This research indicates females with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have a diverse clinical presentation compared to males. Furthermore, females with ASD are often diagnosed later and typically experience greater levels of mental health difficulties. Evidence suggests that clinic-based verbal interventions for ASD have limited efficacy; therefore, alternative therapies, such as equine-assisted therapies (EATs), are gaining recognition. The purpose of this study was to directly explore the experiences of females with an ASD who have undertaken EAT.
Design/methodology/approach
Five female participants with a diagnosis of ASD were recruited from two equine therapy centres. Participants were aged between 15 and 30 years and undertook semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Findings
Three superordinate themes emerged: the difficult experience of the social world, the process of EAT and the emotional impact of horses.
Originality/value
Directly exploring the experiences of females with ASD highlights benefits from engaging therapeutically with horses, building confidence and independence to transferring this into more effective social communication with other people. Offering emotion-focused therapeutic complementary interventions for females with ASD should be forefronted to help remediate the impact of difficult and sometimes traumatic earlier experiences in the social world. This requires increased funding for EAT, combined with larger-scale research projects to evaluate this.
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