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Objectives: Men with intellectual disabilities and/or autism sometimes engage in harmful sexual behaviour (HSB), but it may be harder for them to access treatment, than it is for non‐disabled men. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of attending an adapted CBT group, known as SOTSEC‐ID, on men with intellectual disabilities and/or autism who had HSB. Method: Ninety‐eight men from intellectual disability services, who had ID and/or autism and a history of HSB were recruited, and they received group CBT for a year (46 of these men have been previously reported). Harmful sexual behaviour, sexual knowledge, distorted cognitions and victim empathy were measured before and after treatment, and at 6 month follow‐up. Results: There were low levels of further harmful sexual behaviour: 12% of men engaged in further HSB during the 1‐year period of the group, and 8% engaged in further HSB in the 6‐month follow‐up period. There were also significant improvements in sexual knowledge, distorted cognitions and victim empathy following treatment, maintained at 6‐month follow‐up. Men with autism showed significantly more non‐contact HSB, were less likely to have been interviewed by police and had higher rates of further HSB, compared to men without autism. Conclusions: It is concluded that SOTSEC‐ID is a promising treatment for men with ID/autism and HSB. Nevertheless, the study had a number of limitations and lacked a control group, so there is now an urgent need for a proper controlled study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Using inclusive research methods with people with intellectual disabilities is increasingly common. A recent consensus statement identified key elements when conducting and reporting inclusive research with people with intellectual disabilities. This review identifies the range of health and social care research topics using inclusive research methodologies, systematically appraises the involvement of researchers with intellectual disabilities, and identifies facilitators and barriers to inclusive research. Researchers' experiences of engaging with inclusive research are synthesised. Method: Seventeen empirical studies focused upon inclusive health and social care research were identified. The associated inclusive research methodologies employed, and the stages in which researchers with intellectual disabilities were involved, along with the experiences of researchers with and without intellectual disabilities were synthesised. Results: Papers focused on a broad range of health and social care topics and largely employed qualitative or mixed‐methods designs. Researchers with intellectual disabilities were frequently involved with data collection, analysis and dissemination. Facilitators of inclusive research comprised sharing power, team working, having sufficient resources and making research methodologies accessible. Conclusions: Researchers with intellectual disabilities are involved in a wide range of methodologies and research tasks. How the added value of inclusive research is measured and its impact on outcomes, require consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Mental imagery is important in the development and maintenance of psychological disorders and well‐being but has been neglected in people with intellectual disabilities. A detailed idiographic analysis of the lived experience of mental imagery in this population is presented. Design: This qualitative study uses interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). It involved inclusive research methods with people with intellectual disabilities and other stakeholders (including family members, advocates, support workers and intellectual disability service managers). Methods: Ten individual semi‐structured interviews were conducted with people with mild–moderate intellectual disabilities. Participants were opportunistically sampled through organisations providing community services to people with intellectual disabilities in the UK. Two men and eight women (mean age 43 years) participated. Interviews were audio‐recorded and analysed using IPA. Results: People with intellectual disabilities are able to experience a range of rich and detailed mental images across all sensory modalities. Participants reported changes in affect based on mental imagery, and an ability to experience both spontaneous and deliberate mental images. The emotional saliency of the object of mental imagery appeared to influence participants' ability to engage with imagery. A number of adaptations make mental imagery more accessible and easier to report. The ability of people with intellectual disabilities to experience vivid mental imagery has important clinical implications for the use of a range of mental imagery interventions with this population. Conclusions: The need to consider mental imagery interventions for this population, and how these can be adapted to ensure accessibility is a priority for people with intellectual disabilities and psychological disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We examined whether a series of variables were related to the number of psychiatric inpatients using publicly available data about English psychiatric bed utilisation and NHS workforce. Method: Using linear regression, with auto‐regressive errors, we examined relationships between variables over time using data from December 2013 to March 2021. Results: Over time, the number of inpatients reduced by either 6.58 or 8.07 per month depending upon the dataset utilised, and the number of community nurses and community nursing support staff reduced by 7.43 and 2.14 nurses per month, respectively. Increasing numbers of consultant psychiatrists were associated with fewer inpatients over time. More care and treatment reviews (CTRs) were associated with more admissions over time, while more post‐admission CTRs were associated with increased discharges over time. Conclusions: Future studies should examine whether psychiatric bed utilisation elsewhere within the NHS by people with intellectual disabilities has increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media can lead to rejection, cyber-bullying victimisation, and cyber-aggression, and these experiences are not fully understood as experienced by autistic adults. To investigate this, 78 autistic adults completed self-report measures of social media use, cyber-bullying victimisation, cyber-aggression, and self-esteem. High levels of social media use were found to be associated with an increased risk of cyber-victimisation; whereas self-esteem was positively correlated with feelings of belonging to an online community and negatively correlated with feelings of being ignored on social network sites and chat rooms. Future studies are needed to further investigate the experience of cyber-bullying victimisation of autistic adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The measures implemented to manage the COVID‐19 pandemic have been shown to impair mental health. This problem is likely to be exacerbated for carers. Method: Informal carers (mainly parents) of children and adults with intellectual disabilities, and a comparison group of parents of children without disabilities, completed an online questionnaire. Almost all the data were collected while strict lockdown conditions were in place. Results: Relative to carers of children without intellectual disability, carers of both children and adults with intellectual disability had significantly greater levels of a wish fulfilment coping style, defeat/entrapment, anxiety, and depression. Differences were 2–3 times greater than reported in earlier pre‐pandemic studies. Positive correlations were found between objective stress scores and all mental health outcomes. Despite their greater mental health needs, carers of those with intellectual disability received less social support from a variety of sources. Conclusions: The greater mental health needs of carers in the context of lesser social support raises serious concerns. We consider the policy implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This study investigated whether a personalized life story book and rummage box enhanced well-being and led to changes in behaviour for people with Down syndrome (DS) who have dementia. Materials and Methods A randomized single case series design was used with five participants who had DS and a diagnosis of dementia. Participants were invited to take part in three conditions at random (i) life story book, (ii) rummage box and (iii) no-intervention condition. Results The two reminiscence conditions were significantly associated with enhanced well-being as compared to the no-intervention condition. However, for one participant, the life story book was associated with significantly higher well-being, while for another participant, the rummage box was associated with significantly higher well-being, suggesting some participants may prefer one method over another. Conclusions Personalized life story books and rummage boxes are associated with higher levels of well-being for people with DS and dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The aims of the study were to (1) revise the Impact of Event Scale-Revised for use with people with intellectual disabilities ( IDs), creating the Impact of Event Scale-Intellectual Disabilities ( IES- IDs), (2) assess the reliability of the IES- IDs, and (3) compare the IES-IDs to an existing measure trauma-related symptomatology, namely the Lancaster and Northgate Trauma Scale ( LANTS), along with measures of anxiety and depression. Methods Forty adults with IDs who had experienced at least one traumatic event were recruited and completed the IES- IDs and the LANTS on two occasions, separated by 2 weeks. Participants also completed the Glasgow Depression Scale and the Glasgow Anxiety Scale, along with the Trauma Information Form which was used to collect information about trauma history. Results Fifteen per cent of the sample had encountered five or more traumatic events. The IES- IDs and the LANTS had good to excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Both measures correlated with self-report measures of depression and anxiety, although the strength of this correlation was greater with the LANTS. There was a significant positive correlation between trauma frequency and the IES- IDs, while trauma frequency did not correlate with the LANTS. Conclusions Both the IES- IDs and the LANTS appear to have good reliability. Practitioner points There is a lack of well-developed questionnaires that can be used to assess symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD) in people with intellectual disabilities., The Impact of Event Scale-Revised was augmented creating the Impact of Event Scale-Intellectual Disabilities ( IES- IDs). The IES- IDs was shown to have good psychometric properties., The IES- IDs was compared to the Lancaster and Northgate Trauma Scale ( LANTS), but the LANTS did not correlate with trauma frequency., However, this study had a small sample size, and a much larger study is needed to examine the factor structure of both the IES- IDs and the LANTS. Future studies should attempt to recruit people with IDs who have a diagnosis of PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The Equipping Youth to Help One Another Programme ( EQUIP) was designed for young offenders to address a developmental delay in moral reasoning, distorted cognitions and social skills. Methods The present authors undertook a single case series study and piloted an adapted version of the EQUIP programme with three men with intellectual disabilities and four men with a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, all of whom were detained in a medium-secure forensic unit for people with intellectual disabilities. Treatment was delivered over a 12-week period, and participants took part in four-one-hour sessions per week. Results The results suggested that treatment was successful at increasing moral reasoning ability, reducing distorted cognitions and improving ability to choose effective solutions to problems. However, treatment did not have a significant effect upon anger. Conclusions The EQUIP programme is a promising treatment, but further research is needed to investigate its effectiveness with men with intellectual or other developmental disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]