The Aging Developmentally Disabled Person: A Review

Recruiting Research Participants: A Comparison of the Costs and Effectiveness of Five Recruitment Strategies

“…Although prevalence rates are difficult to estimate due to variations in diagnostic criteria across cohorts and locations, estimates suggest that schizophrenia directly affects between 1.2 million and 2.4 million people in the United States (Goldman, 1982;Torrey, 1988). Approximately 6 million persons have a developmental disability (Walz, Harper, & Wilson, 1986).…”

“…Torrey (1988) reports that of the estimated 1.2 million people with schizophrenia in the United States, more than half a million are living with family, an additional 400,000+ are living in the community, and as many as 200,000 are living in institutional settings. As with schizophrenia and other chronic mental illnesses, it is difficult to estimate the prevalence rate of mental retardation among the adult opulation because only a fraction of this group may e identified to service agencies (Walz et al, 1986). Thus, without strong population estimates, it is difficult to determine whether the smaller numbers of women living with children with schizophrenia and of women who are not living with children with mental retardation or other developmental disabilities reflect a lower prevalence rate in trie community or whether these women are especially hard to target and require different recruitment strategies altogether.…”

Considerations in the use of psychotropic drugs in elderly mentally retarded persons

“…Third, they will be at increased risk for developing tardive dyskinesia if treated with neuroleptics. Fourth, like other developmentally disabled people, many within this population have problems in communicating symptoms and side effects (Walz et al, 1986;Aman et al, 1986).…”

“…Owing to medical and public health advances over the years, a much greater proportion of persons with mental retardation are reaching old age (Walz et al, 1986). There is disagreement regarding how 'old age' should be defined in this population (Panitch, 1983), although most workers appear to have settled upon the age of 55 years as a convenient (albeit arbitrary) delimiter of old age in mental retardation (Walz et al, 1986).…”

“…There is disagreement regarding how 'old age' should be defined in this population (Panitch, 1983), although most workers appear to have settled upon the age of 55 years as a convenient (albeit arbitrary) delimiter of old age in mental retardation (Walz et al, 1986). It is also true that most of us (doctors, paramedical staff and other professionals) working with mentally retarded people have little specialized training on the effects of aging.…”