Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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well as advocacy. The authors concluded that the establishment
of services did not diminish the importance of support from
extended family networks (Traustadottir & Sigurjonsdottir, 2008).
<strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
• Involvement of family members has been found to be inhibited in
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
certain situations; for example, instances were reported in one
study where interested families had not been informed when
major decisions were made about children, including cases of
abortion and adoption (Tarleton et al., 2006).
• Good practice was identified where the involvement of the wider
family is supportive or ‘protective’ (Barlow, 1999) and where the
parent can retain control.
• The mobilisation of community supports, including the extended
family, has been shown to be vital (Booth and Booth, 1995a).
Services need to actively assist parents to become part of their
local community (McConnell et al., 1997). A number of strategies
for involving extended families have been identified (Tarleton et
al., 2006).
• Research has shown that mothers with intellectual disability
are isolated from their local communities and are potentially
vulnerable if a breakdown occurs in the support provided by
families (Llewellyn and McConnell, 2002).
• Research has demonstrated that the stress levels of parents with
intellectual disability were very high, compared to the general
population, and their self-reported need for social support
was also high. Feldman et al. (2002) also observed that the
parents with intellectual disability’s perception of supports was
more important than the actual amount of support provided in
shielding them from the negative effects of stress.
• The studies reviewed suggested that one way of improving the
outcome for parents with intellectual disability would be to help
them build positive social networks.