Appreciating the work of nurses caring for adults with intellectual disability and mental health issues.

This paper presents findings from a study exploring the nurses' experience of caring for adults with intellectual disability and mental health issues in inpatient settings. Semi structured interviews were undertaken with 13 nurses from various regions of New Zealand. Methods suggested by an Appreciative Inquiry methodology were used to explore the nurses' positive experiences of their role.

Mental health inpatient experiences of adults with intellectual disability.

This paper presents findings from a study exploring the mental health inpatient care of people with a dual disability of intellectual disability and mental health issues from the perspective of those people with the dual disability. A mixture of semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews were carried out with nine participants who had been admitted to an inpatient unit for mental health care exploring their experience of care. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using open coding and Leximancer (an online data mining tool) analysis to identify dominant themes in the discourse.

Research participation by people with intellectual disability and mental health issues: an examination of the processes of consent.

Balancing the demands of research and ethics is always challenging, and even more so when recruiting vulnerable groups. Within the context of current legislation and international human rights declarations, it is strongly advocated that research can and must be undertaken with all recipients of health-care services. Research in the field of intellectual disability presents particular challenges in regards to consenting processes.

Nurses' role in caring for people with a comorbidity of mental illness and intellectual disability: a literature review.

This article examines literature on the role of the nurse caring for people with a dual disability (DD) of intellectual disability and mental illness. A search of the literature between 2000 and 2010 resulted in a total of 21 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Seven key categories of the role of the nurse were identified: (i) advocacy/health promotion (including working with family); (ii) assessment/case management; (iii) behavioural interventions; (iv) communication; (v) leadership and the nurse's role within the multidisciplinary team; (vi) functions regarding medication administration; and (vii) safety/risk management.

Negotiating complexities: An ethnographic study of intellectual disability and mental health nursing in New Zealand.

This paper presents the findings from a study undertaken to describe nursing practice in one dual diagnosis (DD; coexisting mental illness and intellectual disability) inpatient unit in New Zealand. A focused ethnographic approach (using fieldwork observations, a review of documents, and five semistructured interviews) was used to gather data. A model of culture was used to analyze data to allow a description of DD nursing practice.