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Dementia in people with learning disability: a preliminary study into care staff knowledge and attributions
Author(s) -
Whitehouse Richard,
Chamberlain Paul,
Tunna Kate
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-3156.2000.00057.x
Subject(s) - dementia , learning disability , pessimism , attribution , feeling , psychology , challenging behaviour , nursing , gerontology , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology , philosophy , disease , epistemology , pathology
Summary The present paper describes the findings of a pilot study funded by the NHS Executive Primary and Community Care Research Initiative Small Projects Scheme that investigated the knowledge and attributions of dementia held by care staff who work with older adults with learning disability. Meetings took place with 21 members of care staff identified as keyworkers to older adults with learning disability living in residential houses provided by Solihull Healthcare NHS Trust, Solihull, UK. The results suggest that staff have knowledge of ageing at a similar level to that of college students. Forgetfulness was the sign that they would most expect to see if they thought someone was suffering from dementia. When a change in behaviour was attributed to dementia, it was most likely to be viewed as ‘stable, uncontrollable’ with staff feeling pessimistic about being able to change the behaviour.