Exploring mutual care in intellectual disabilities - version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring mutual care between people with intellectual disabilities and their family carers in Scotland
IRAS ID
180343
Contact name
Gillian Thompson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Edinburgh Napier University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
A significant number of adults with intellectual (learning) disabilities live at home with family carers such as parents, siblings and spouses. Mutual care is when both the family carer and person with intellectual disabilities (ID) are looking after each other. This care can take the form of practical support as well as keeping their family carer company. As people are living longer, mutual care will likely increase and become more common. However, very little is known about the experiences that people with ID and family carers have where mutual care is occurring. The perceptions that healthcare staff have on mutual care in ID is also not known.
This research will address the above gaps by exploring the experiences and perspectives on mutual care between people with ID and family carers, as well as healthcare staffs understanding and perceptions of this. Recruitment will be across the 7 Community Learning Disability Teams in NHS Lothian. Three different groups of participants will be recruited including people with ID, family carers and healthcare staff, with up to a maximum of ten participants in each of the 3 groups. Participants will be recruited through community learning disability teams across NHS Lothian. All participants will take part in a one-off semi-structured interview asking them about their experiences and views of mutual care. Interviews will be at a time and place that is convenient for participants. Interviews will be recorded and transcribed, with the transcripts then being analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
16/NI/0019
Date of REC Opinion
17 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion