Background: Caregivers have an intimate knowledge of the individuals they care for and are therefore an important source of information on pain experiences. They are often relied upon to recognize pain-related behaviours and report them, but little is known as to how they experience their role. Methods: Information was collected from 11 caregivers…

Background: National and international polices promote the acceptance, integration and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities into mainstream society. However, there is little systematic research into general population attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities, and even less research, which considers the impact of…

Background: Government guidelines promote the use of mainstream mental health services for people with intellectual disabilities whenever possible. However, little is known about the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities who use such services. Materials and Methods: Face-to-face interviews with service users, carers and community…

Background: Young people with intellectual disabilities seem to be at increased risk of developing mental health problems. The present study set out to examine the impact such difficulties can have on parents. Method: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out with 13 parents and one adult sibling of 11 young people with intellectual…

Background: Mental health problems are known to be hard to recognize in people with intellectual disabilities. One factor that may contribute to this is the diagnostic overshadowing bias, which describes the tendency of the clinicians to overlook symptoms of mental health problems in this client group and attribute them to being part of "having an…

Background: Very little is known about young people with intellectual disabilities who experience additional mental health problems. The perspective of service providers has been highlighted as one unresearched area. Method: Semi-structured interviews were completed with senior service providers. Aims: (1) to explore experiences of working with…