The Reported Experience of Four Women with Intellectual Disabilities Receiving Emergency Psychiatric Services in Canada

Hospital emergency departments are not well prepared to meet the needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Negative experiences can be very traumatic, particularly when the emergency visit is because of a behavioural or psychiatric problem. A focus group study was conducted in 2005 in Tor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of intellectual disabilities 2009-06, Vol.13 (2), p.87-98
Main Authors: Lunsky, Yona, Gracey, Carolyn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accident and emergency departments
Canada
Hospitals
Learning disabilities
Psychiatric disorders
Women
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Summary:Hospital emergency departments are not well prepared to meet the needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Negative experiences can be very traumatic, particularly when the emergency visit is because of a behavioural or psychiatric problem. A focus group study was conducted in 2005 in Toronto, Canada with four women with intellectual disabilities who had paid repeated visits to their local emergency department due to a psychiatric or behavioural crisis. These women spoke about not feeling respected, the trauma of being restrained physically or chemically, and about hospital staff not being comfortable working with women with intellectual disabilities. Clinical implications are discussed and recommendations are presented to improve the experience of women who require emergency services in the future. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright holder.]
ISSN:1744-6295
DOI:10.1177/1744629509336483