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Clinical outcomes of a specialised inpatient unit for adults with mild to severe intellectual disability and mental illness
Author(s) -
Lunsky Y.,
White S. E.,
Palucka A. M.,
Weiss J.,
Bockus S.,
Gofine T.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2009.01213.x
Subject(s) - intellectual disability , medicine , mental illness , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , unit (ring theory) , mental health , challenging behaviour , borderline intellectual functioning , cognition , cognitive disabilities , pediatrics , psychology , mathematics education
Background Limitations of general psychiatric services have led to the development of specialised psychiatric programmes for patients with intellectual disability (ID) and mental health needs. Few studies have examined treatment outcomes of specialised inpatient units, and no studies have explored how the effects of intervention may differ for individuals at varying levels of cognitive ability. The present study examined clinical outcomes of inpatients with mild ID in contrast to inpatients with moderate to severe ID within the same service. Method Thirty‐three patients (17 with mild ID and 16 with moderate to severe ID) discharged between 2006 and 2008 from a specialised inpatient unit in Canada for adults with ID and mental illness were studied. In addition to examining change in scores on clinical measures, outcomes with regard to length of stay, diagnostic change, residential change and re‐admission to hospital were explored. Results Both groups demonstrated clinical improvement from admission to discharge. However, only patients with mild ID demonstrated improvements on the Global Assessment of Functioning. Conclusions This study is one of the first to consider outcomes of higher and lower functioning individuals with ID on a specialised inpatient unit. Results suggest that outcomes may be different for these groups, and some clinical measures may be more sensitive to changes in patients with more severe disabilities.