Self-reported needs among older persons with intellectual disabilities in an Irish community-based service

Service providers' perceptions of active ageing among older adults with lifelong intellectual disabilities

“…With the small existing body of international research on levels of social participation and activity among older adults with IDs (e.g. Zijlstra & Vlaskamp 2005;McCausland et al 2010) reporting challenges in terms of the amount and quality of activities, it is encouraging to note that these service providers generally felt that their clients were active, empowered to drive their own activities and to choose what they wanted to do, as opposed to always fitting into existing programming. Whether service providers' perceptions match the views of family members and older people themselves, however, is an issue for future research analyses.…”

“…(2010) assessed the health and social care needs of 75 older adults (50 years and older) with mild to severe ID who utilised residential and day services, and identified key met (daytime activities, social relationships, food, looking after the home, transport) and unmet needs (basic education, transport and money budgeting) among these older adults. As this cohort is the first substantial group of people with an ID to age and reach ‘old age’, McCausland et al . (2010) argued for the development of continuing lifelong learning programmes and emphasised that more research is needed to better understand the specific health and social care needs of older persons with ID.…”

“…Zijlstra & Vlaskamp (2005) also identified a negative consequence of ageing, with older residents experiencing significantly fewer leisure activities, both in total number and variety, which they attributed -at least in part -to the fact that their own ageing parents were no longer able to facilitate outings. In Ireland, McCausland et al (2010) assessed the health and social care needs of 75 older adults (50 years and older) with mild to severe ID who utilised residential and day services, and identified key met (daytime activities, social relationships, food, looking after the home, transport) and unmet needs (basic education, transport and money budgeting) among these older adults. As this cohort is the first substantial group of people with an ID to age and reach 'old age ', McCausland et al (2010) argued for the development of continuing lifelong learning programmes and emphasised that more research is needed to better understand the specific health and social care needs of older persons with ID.…”

A longitudinal study of the intra‐country variations in the provision of residential care for adult persons with an intellectual disability

“…Another point of enquiry is around the finding that older persons (aged over 40 years) are more likely to be found in congregated rather than community settings. The reasons for this need to be ascertained given the increasing numbers of older persons in modern services and the risk this presents of perpetuating congregated models of provision and discriminating against older people in decisions around placement (McCausland et al . 2010).…”

Identification of Needs of Older Adults With Intellectual Disabilities

“…The studies that analyzed the needs of older people with IDs, from the perspective of staff members, present various limitations. First, they are very few and diverse: there are studies where the staff members reported needs of IDs and other disabilities (Díaz, Rodríguez, & Gómez, ), where staff and self‐report sources were combined (Aguado et al, ; McCausland et al, ) or where need identification was not the primary research aim (e.g., Buys, Aird, & Miller, ). When one attends only to studies that specifically addressed needs of older adults with IDs according to staff perspectives, then one verifies that the information available is scarce (Salvatori et al, ; Strydom et al, ; Thompson, ), and in some instances was obtained in relation to small samples of older adults with IDs (Strydom et al, ; Thompson, ).…”