Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...
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PAGE 159<br />
Workers might also need to raise awareness about parents with learning<br />
difficulties with the supervisor <strong>of</strong> midwives at each hospital, the midwife<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sible for child protecti<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> the local supervising authority for<br />
midwives (Kirby, 2003).<br />
The L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong> Royal College <strong>of</strong> Midwives’ positi<strong>on</strong> paper <strong>on</strong> supporting<br />
women with disabilities in maternity services draws attenti<strong>on</strong> to the<br />
fact that health providers have a resp<strong>on</strong>sibility to address explicitly<br />
the existence <strong>of</strong> discriminati<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> its implicati<strong>on</strong>s for care (The Royal<br />
College <strong>of</strong> Midwives, 2000).<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Literature</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Review</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> Provisi<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Appropriate</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Accessible</strong><br />
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are<br />
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy<br />
4.9 Key findings<br />
Findings in relati<strong>on</strong> to the pregnancy experiences <strong>of</strong> women with<br />
intellectual disability included:<br />
Pregnancy <strong>and</strong> intellectual disability<br />
• There is a real lack <strong>of</strong> empirical data <strong>on</strong> which to base practice<br />
in relati<strong>on</strong> to the experience <strong>of</strong> pregnancy <strong>and</strong> childbirth for<br />
women with intellectual disability (McCray, 2000; Mayes et al.,<br />
2006). Knowledge is lacking generally about how women with<br />
intellectual disabilities feel about their fertility, about having or<br />
not having babies <strong>and</strong> raising or not having the opportunity to<br />
raise children (McCarthy, 2002).<br />
• Research that does exist indicates that the reacti<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> people<br />
close to these women when they announce their pregnancies are<br />
almost exclusively negative.<br />
• The number <strong>of</strong> women with intellectual disability now having<br />
children is thought to be increasing. A recent study in Engl<strong>and</strong><br />
dem<strong>on</strong>strated that almost 7 per cent <strong>of</strong> a sample <strong>of</strong> 2,898 adults<br />
with learning difficulties had children (Emers<strong>on</strong> et al., 2005).<br />
• Much <strong>of</strong> the literature in this area focuses <strong>on</strong> the preventi<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
pregnancy <strong>and</strong> c<strong>on</strong>traceptive management. Research from the<br />
early 1990s to the present has focused <strong>on</strong> the socio-culturalhistorical<br />
<strong>and</strong> envir<strong>on</strong>mental factors influencing women