A national cohort study of spiritual and religious practices of older people with intellectual disability.

Spirituality and spiritual support for older people with intellectual disability are deemed important, however little is known about their specific needs. This paper reports for the first time on the religious and spiritual practices of older adults with intellectual disability. A national longitudinal study examined the prevalence of spiritual practices among older people with intellectual disability in the Republic of Ireland.

Irish social policy to family carers of adults with an intellectual disability: A critical analysis.

This paper explores contemporary Irish social policy for family caregivers with specific focus on the dynamic between the individual, the family and the state in terms of the social contract for care provision for people with intellectual disability. Drawing from Bacchi's analytical framework (Bacchi, 2009), the Irish National Carers' Strategy is interrogated specifically with regards to how it frames and assumes the social contract for family care provision for adults with an intellectual disability. We suggest that Irish social policy constructs family caregiving as the assumed natural and neutral point of departure for providing care within society, and this constructed identify is subsequently reinforced through the provisions contained with the policies themselves that seek to support such caregivers.

Approaches to and outcomes of future planning for family carers of adults with an intellectual disability: A systematic review.

Background: People with intellectual disabilities are living longer, with family homes and family caregivers increasingly identified as a key support to this ageing population of people with intellectual disabilities.

Method: This systematic review sets out existing evidence from empirically evaluated intervention studies of future care planning for adults with intellectual disability by family carers.

Results: This systematic review identified a scarcity of systematic approaches to future care planning for adults with intellectual disabilities and their family carers.

In pursuit of meaningful occupation: Employment and occupational outcomes for older Irish adults with an intellectual disability.

Background: Adults with an intellectual disability (ID) have much lower rates of employment than their counterparts without intellectual disability, which increases their risk of poverty and social exclusion. Differential treatment of people with intellectual disability in welfare and training policies suggests an expectation they will be passive welfare recipients rather than productive employees.

Methods: This paper aims to examine occupational activities by older people with intellectual disability in Ireland, exploring factors influencing outcomes using data from the IDS-TILDA study (n = 708).

Balancing personal wishes and caring capacity in future planning for adults with an intellectual disability living with family carers.

Most people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) live at home with family, and most carers and care recipients wish to continue this arrangement. However, despite worry about what will happen when carers are unable to continue caring, most families do not plan for the future. The (FCRM) pilot study sought to enhance future care planning for families of adults with ID.

"What's going to happen when we're gone?" Family caregiving capacity for older people with an intellectual disability in Ireland.

Background: Changing family sociodemographic factors, increased life expectancy for people with an intellectual disability, deinstitutionalization and policy prioritization of the family as the principal care provider, presents new challenges to care sustainability.

Method: A qualitative study design was employed, entailing focus groups and semistructured interviews, with purposive sampling via the parent study population of the Intellectual Disability Supplement to The Irish Longitudinal Database on Ageing.

Results: The traditional sociodemographic facilitators of family caregiving are in rapid decline.

Interpersonal relationships of older adults with an intellectual disability in Ireland.

Background: People with intellectual disability tend to have smaller social networks than other groups, with even those living in community-based residences comparatively worse off.

Materials And Methods: Analysis of data from the Intellectual Disability Supplement to The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA) (n = 701) examined measures of interpersonal relationships and interactions. Predictors of family contact and having non-resident friends were also explored.

Changing institutional identities of the student nurse.

This paper emphasises the tensions between the ideal of the compliant within care settings and the ideal of the critical thinker within the university setting with reference to student nurse education and identity. Identity is an important part of who we are as people. While modernisation and increased professionalisation of nursing have impacted on staff and patients mostly in a positive way, changes in the management of nursing education in the past 20 years have also heralded a remarkable change in the student identity.