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Cultural competence in lifelong care and support for individuals with intellectual disabilities

VAN HERWAARDEN, Aniek
ROMMES, Els W M
PETERS-SCHEFFER, Nienke C
2019

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Objectives: Although an extensive amount of research has been devoted to models defining cultural competence of healthcare professionals in short-term care, there is unclarity about the cultural competencies that professionals providing lifelong care and support should have. The current study aimed to explore which cultural competencies are used by these healthcare professionals, and whether these competencies enabled them to make cultural adaptations to their regular care practices.

 

Design: To investigate cultural competencies and cultural adaptations, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with eight professionals who provide lifelong care and support to individuals with intellectual disabilities. Five cultural competencies were explored: awareness, knowledge, skills, motivation, and encounters.

 

Results: A thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that professionals providing lifelong care and support used all cultural competencies in their care practices. Moreover, our analysis suggested that these competencies could be categorized as either practical or analytical cultural competencies. Although these competencies were conditional in order to make cultural adaptations to care practices, the presence of cultural competencies did not automatically lead to these cultural adaptations. Conclusions: All five cultural competencies were used by professionals in lifelong care and support. Our analysis revealed that both practical and analytical cultural competencies were essential in providing culturally sensitive lifelong care and support. We additionally suggest that the cultural competence of professionals is necessary, but not sufficient, for making cultural adaptations to lifelong care and support for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In many cases, other factors also played a role in a professional’s final decision to adapt their care practices.

 

Conclusions: All five cultural competencies were used by professionals in lifelong care and support. Our analysis revealed that both practical and analytical cultural competencies were essential in providing culturally sensitive lifelong care and support. We additionally suggest that the cultural competence of professionals is necessary, but not sufficient, for making cultural adaptations to lifelong care and support for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In many cases, other factors also played a role in a professional’s final decision to adapt their care practices.

Decolonizing schools: Women organizing, disability advocacy, and land in Sāmoa

ANESI, Julianne
2019

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In the 1970s and 1980s, Sāmoan women organizers established Aoga Fiamalamalama and Loto Taumafai, two educational institutions, in the independent state of Sāmoa. This article examines these schools’ support of students labelled as ma’i (sick), specifically those with intellectual and physical disabilities. Through oral histories and archival research, I show the vital role performed by the women organizers in changing the educational system by drawing attention to the exclusion of disabled students. I focus on the collective labor of Sāmoan women and their influence in decolonizing schools. In this regard, the women organizers used Sāmoan concepts of fa’a Sāmoa (culture), fanua (land), and tautua (service) as ways to redefine the commitment of the education system. This is a story about daring to reimagine indigenous disabled bodies and their futures through knowledge systems, theory, and literature.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2019, Vol. 6 No. 1

Mental health among Sami people with intellectual disabilities

GJERTSEN, Hege
2019

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The first living condition-survey among people with intellectual disability in Sami areas in Norway was conducted in 2017. The purpose of this article is to present and discuss results from the living-condition study, with a focus on the results related to mental health and bullying as a risk factor for poor mental health among people with intellectual disability and a Sami background. We have conducted a questionnaire survey among people with intellectual disability in Sami areas, with and without a Sami background (N = 93). People with intellectual disability have poorer mental health compared to the population in general and those with Sami background have the poorest mental health. Bullying is one of several factors that increase the risk of poor mental health among people with intellectual disability and Sami background. Having a Sami background makes people with intellectual disability more disposed to poor mental health.

Inclusion of marginalised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with neurocognitive disability in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

TOWNSEND, Clare
McINTYRE, Michelle
LAKHANI, Ali
WRIGHT, Courtney
WHITE, Paul
BISHARA, Jason
CULLEN, Jennifer
2018

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Given the ambiguity surrounding the extent and experience of neurocognitive disability (NCD) among marginalised Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia, evidence regarding the level and nature of NCD is crucial to ensure equitable access and inclusion into the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This paper reports the results of the implementation of The Guddi Protocol (a culturally informed and appropriate screening protocol for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples) at two locations in Queensland. Results indicated high levels of NCD, and additional qualitative data revealed a number of factors associated with the complex disablement of study participants, namely: i) intergenerational trauma; ii) a social context of disadvantage, marginalisation and exclusion; and iii) the nonidentification of disability. The results are linked to implications for NDIS inclusion for this population, and recommendations are made. Unless the extent and nature of complex disability and the issues surrounding culturally safe policy, and service design and engagement are addressed with and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including those who experience complex disablement, marginalised people will continue to be effectively excluded from the NDIS.

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018, Vol.5, No. 2

Towards a new directional turn? Directors with cognitive disabilities

SCHMIDT, Yvonne
2017

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Drawing from my first-hand observations and embodied experiences of having collaborated with HORA over the course of several years, this paper discusses an under-investigated area within the field of disability and performance: pioneering work by directors and with learning or cognitive disabilities, an area which has not yet been addressed in the expanding field of disability and performance studies.

Family perceptions of intellectual disability : understanding and support in Dar as Salaam

ALDERSEY, H. M
2012

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"This article outlines and discusses interviews that were conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with family members of children and adults with intellectual disabilities. These interviews explore how families came to understand that their child had an intellectual disability; the availability of family support; and family hopes and dreams for the future, and were a part of a wider exploratory study that gathered insight from individuals with disabilities, families, and other providers of support to explore understandings and perceptions of disability in Dar es Salaam"
African Journal of Disability, Vol 1, Issue 1, Art. #32

Music therapy and leisure for persons with disabilities

BARKSDALE, Alicia L
2003

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This book explores the use of music therapy in school and community settings to enhance the development of independent leisure skills with a variety of client populations, including children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly with mental health needs, developmental and learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease and other aging-related conditions, substance abuse problems, brain injuries, and physical disabilities

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