Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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3) Did she think she had learning difficulties?
4) Did she think she was a slow learner?
The medical
<strong>Literature</strong>
records for
<strong>Review</strong>
all participants
on Provision
were
of Appropriate
reviewed
and
post-partum,
Accessible
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
with the consent Experiencing of the women. Crisis Pregnancy The following variables were used in
the analysis: indigenous status, previous pregnancies, antenatal care,
medical conditions (including hypertension and diabetes), and birth
outcomes (including birth weight, gestational age, Apgar scores and
admission to neonatal intensive care (NICU) and/or special care nursery
(SCN)).
The study identified a total of 57 pregnant women with intellectual
disability and/or self-reported learning difficulties (total study cohort=878
pregnant women); the medical records of 54 of these women were
accessible. Findings showed that these women experienced a higher
rate of pre-eclampsia, had children with low birth weight more often and
had children who were more frequently admitted to neonatal intensive
care or special care nursery, compared with the women without ID
or self-reported learning difficulties in the study cohort. The authors
concluded that further research was necessary to determine the effects
of biomedical risk factors (e.g. nutritional intake, maternal weight,
smoking, and use of anti-epileptic and other medications); psychosocial
risk factors, such as social support, stress, anxiety and depression; and,
health system/service factors, including, for example, access to quality
antenatal care.
The authors acknowledged that a major limitation of their research was
that a comprehensive assessment of intellectual disability could not be
undertaken in the busy antenatal clinic environment and therefore they
could not determine severity of intellectual disability or whether there
was any significant difference in general cognitive ability between the
women with identified intellectual disability and those with self-reported
learning difficulties. Further, they acknowledged that the readiness of
women to self-report learning difficulties may be influenced by factors,
such as low self-esteem, and/or mental health problems.