Family Involvement in Person-Centered Approaches for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Challenging Behaviors: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Introduction: Families have a significant role in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviors. However, it is not clear how actively families are involved when people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviors are living in out-of-home care. This scoping review explored the frequency and type of family involvement in the application of a person-centered approach in the care for people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviors. Methods: Authors conducted electronic searches through six databases: Embase, Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central, and Google Scholar (2005 to 2019) and evaluated relevant publications. Results: Based on the 15 articles identified, only five articles report on family involvement. In addition, frequency of contact, and how family is involved appears to differ between different person-centered approaches. Conclusion: More active family involvement in person-centered approaches for people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviors is recommended. KEYWORDSPerson-centered approach; family involvement; scoping review Family members of people with intellectual disabilities have a significant, lifelong role in their lives due to the unique and irreplaceable nature of family relationships (Bigby & Fyffe, 2012;Lambert et al., 2010). Although it might differ between countries (Woittiez et al., 2018), a large number of people with intellectual disabilities will continue to live with family members well into adulthood (Mansell & Beadle-Brown, 2010). During this time, the family is often the main caregiver. When people with intellectual disabilities leave the parental home they are likely move to supported accommodation, as their intellectual disabilities causes significant CONTACT Tess Tournier