Collaboration in I(L)D services
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring collaborative working in adult intellectual (learning) disability services
IRAS ID
224902
Contact name
Madeleine Tremblett
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Plymouth
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 8 days
Research summary
It is estimated that there are 905,000 adults with intellectual learning disabilities (I(L)D) in the UK alone (Emerson et al., 2011) and 21% of these adults are known to services which provide specialised care and support. Services provided to adults with I(L)D in the UK have frequently come under scrutiny for poor practice and cases of abuse (cf. Mencap, 2007; services in Cornwall, Commission for Healthcare audit and Inspection, 2006; Winterbourne View hospital, DoH, 2012). These reports all highlight that there is often an absence of effective multidisciplinary working in these instances of poor practice. The reports tend to champion effective collaborative working between professionals (i.e. multidisciplinary teams) as a way to prevent further incidents. Despite this emphasis on collaboration, there is a lack of understanding of how teams of multiple professionals work collaboratively. Thus, this PhD project aims to examine how collaborative working is achieved in adult I(L)D services. \nFirst, to understand how I(L)D services are set up to support collaborative working the researcher will undertake an observation of three different adult I(L)D community teams for one week each. Not only will this provide an understanding of how the services are set up to support collaboration, but also an understanding of what collaboration between professionals in these services looks like. Alongside, interviews will be held with three professionals with a range of roles from each team to understand how professionals themselves understand collaboration in these services. \nSecond, the researcher will record and examine interactions between professionals in multidisciplinary already occurring meetings. These meetings are one area for which there is an expectation that collaboration occurs, for example to enable care planning for service users.
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SW/0268
Date of REC Opinion
30 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion