ICALD - Stakeholder views v1.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Improving Communication with Adults with Learning Disabilities (ICALD): barriers, facilitators and desired outcomes for communication support in social care settings.
IRAS ID
339593
Contact name
Vicky Slonims
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
South London & Maudsley
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Around one fifth of adults with learning disabilities are supported in social care settings. Supporting people in these settings to experience a good quality of life requires skill and resources.
People with learning disabilities and minimal or no speech may find it difficult to communicate with others and to be understood. Poor communication skills can mean that people are at risk of developing behaviours that other people find challenging and at risk of being treated harshly or to be neglected. We want to find out what people would find helpful to improve and support the use of communication strategies for people with very little or no speech who live in social care settings. We want to learn from people with learning disabilities, their families and from staff working in social care settings. This information will help us to improve staff training and provide the right support after the training.
We will use a range of strategies to help us to understand the views of people with learning disabilities. We will also ask paid and family carers, trainers, service managers, health professionals and commissioners about their experiences of providing support relating to the communication needs of people with learning disabilities. We will ask staff if their working conditions affect the way they support communication for people with learning disabilities, and what changes they think are needed to improve the situation.
We will also ask the same people what they think good communication support should look like and how we would measure any improvements in communication support.
The findings of this study will be used to inform the co-production of a training package for staff working in social care supporting adults with learning with severe communication difficulties.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/WM/0147
Date of REC Opinion
31 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion