Search results

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the provision of therapy for witnesses who have a learning disability prior to and following a criminal trial. Authors will reflect on clinical practice whilst stressing that this area of work is in its infancy and both continue to learn through continued reflection and each new experience.

The paper broadly describes the nature of pre-trial therapy followed by reflection by a Counsellor and Supervisor on their clinical practice.

Authors describe some of the common themes that arise whilst providing pre-trial therapy.

The authors hope that the paper will encourage professionals involved in Safeguarding cases to fully consider the emotional needs of victims and to seek timely therapeutic support where the need presents. They also hope that it will encourage practitioners from various professions to consider providing this specialist and delicate type of therapy whilst highlighting the need for good supervision.

There is a paucity of written information about this specific subject area. Although safeguarding of vulnerable adults has grown considerably over the last decade and investigations are now more likely to lead to legal action, the availability of emotional support for victims who have learning disabilities needs to be addressed.

This paper aims to report verbatim the voices of older people describing their experiences of rehabilitation services in community hospitals and local authority short‐term residential units followed by “usual care” services at home. It aims to contribute directly to the implementation of the DH Section 256 “reablement guidance”.

The paper is a qualitative study, based on semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews in 2002/3, with 42 participants (mean age 81.4 years) using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).

Four main themes emerged from users' comments: the complexity of rehabilitative need, the influence of the setting, the role of the staff and the availability of reablement support back at home.

Qualitative studies have limited generalisability, but these findings are consistent both with other studies of user experience and with earlier related evidence about assessment, institutionalisation and psychological factors.

The findings clearly demonstrate changing rehabilitative needs along the care pathway, with implications for commissioners and providers of reablement services. The findings bring a user perspective to current debates about the integration of services and the use of pooled budgets.

Effective reablement is critically dependent on service users' co‐operation and motivation. It therefore needs to be highly responsive to their needs and views. This study offers specific user views about their experiences in different settings and at different stages of reablement, together with their ideas for how it might work better. The data are analysed within a single framework, offering an example of the type of local evaluation currently sought by the Department of Health.