Emergency Psychiatric Services for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities: Caregivers' Perspectives

Background  Strains on the mental health system and inaccessible services for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) often force caregivers to bring individuals with ID to the emergency department (ED) when in psychiatric crisis. The purpose of this study was to understand the experience of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities 2009-07, Vol.22 (4), p.354-362
Main Authors: Weiss, Jonathan A., Lunsky, Yona, Gracey, Carolyn, Canrinus, Maaike, Morris, Susan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Canada
Caregiver Attitudes
Caregivers
Delivery Systems
Emergency Programs
emergency services
Family Attitudes
Focus Groups
Foreign Countries
health care delivery
Intellectual disabilities
intellectual disability
Medical Care Evaluation
Mental Health
Mental health care
Mental Health Programs
Mental Retardation
Ontario
psychiatric crisis
Psychiatric Services
Public Agencies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background  Strains on the mental health system and inaccessible services for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) often force caregivers to bring individuals with ID to the emergency department (ED) when in psychiatric crisis. The purpose of this study was to understand the experience of caregivers and adults with ID and mental health issues, according to caregivers’ perspectives. Method  Focus groups were conducted with one group of unpaid caregivers (i.e. family members) and two groups of paid caregivers (i.e. staff from community agencies) from Ontario, Canada. Results  Caregivers identified a number of issues centering on a lack of services, on respect, on knowledge and on expertise. Diagnostic overshadowing and overmedication were also prevalent concerns. Conclusions  Input from caregivers points to deficiencies in the system that lead them to use the ED when other options have been exhausted. A number of recommendations can be implemented to improve the emergency psychiatric care of adults with ID in the ED.
ISSN:1360-2322
1468-3148
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.2008.00468.x