There was evidence of good practices within orthopaedic and trauma settings such as the active involvement of family or a paid carer who is known to thepatient and the modification of care and interventions along with specialist advice and support from the Acute Liaison Learning Disability Nurse. There were areas of concern such as the lack of use of Hospital Passports and the inconsistent implementation of reasonable and achievable adjustments. It is unknown if the care for patients with a learning disability is adequate. However, the themes that have emerged accord with the key domains in 'A competency framework for orthopaedic and trauma practitioners' (Royal College of Nursing 2012a, 2012b) and therefore could be considered for inclusion in future orthopaedic and trauma competencies to enable sharing of best practices.
Background: Adults with intellectual disabilities are not regularly recruited as participants in health research which may be due to perceptions regarding their inability to participate meaningfully with or without significant support and anticipated difficulty in gaining ethical approval because of issues around consent and mental capacity. This means that the voices of people with an intellectual disability are often missing within health research and their experiences and views are unexplored.Aim: To share successful strategies for accessing, recruiting and collecting data from a purposive sample of adults with an intellectual disability using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).Discussion: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was a person-centred, flexible and creative approach to adopt. Meaningful collaboration with people with intellectual disabilities, their families, carers, advocacy group managers, specialists within intellectual disability services and research supervisors was vital to the success of conducting this study. Practical strategies for including people with an intellectual disability in a study from the perspective of a novice researcher, an outsider to the field of intellectual disability, have been shared. A limitation is that participants were not included in all stages of the research process.
Conclusion: Inclusion of participants with an intellectual disability in research studiesis important and achievable for healthcare researchers. A framework to support Accepted manuscript 22.3.21 researchers outside of the specialist field of intellectual disabilities has been presented.Implications for practice: Adults with intellectual disabilities often receive poor healthcare and have poorer outcomes which is perpetuated if their input into research is not facilitated. People with intellectual disabilities make valuable contributions to the evidence base; personal views and perceptions of healthcare are important if health services are to meet individual needs.
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