Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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partner was the same age, and also had an intellectual disability,
and the relationship was a protected one (Esterle, Munoz Sastre
and Mullett, 2008).
• Research in Canada (Owen, Griffiths, Feldman, Sales and
Richards, 2000) demonstrated that people with intellectual
disability themselves still seem to have conservative attitudes
towards sexual intercourse and homosexuality.
<strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
• Llewellyn & Brigden (1995), writing in the Australian context,
found that if family members, service workers, and significant
others express negative attitudes and discourage independence
then the cooperation and competency of parents with intellectual
disability may be adversely affected. Conversely, they note that
when there is an attitude of empowerment of the family, supports
and services are generally well received.
• Social service providers (n=216) in a Canadian study tended to
have moderately liberal attitudes to the sexual lives of people
with intellectual disability; staff of the outpatient treatment
services revealed the most liberal and positive attitudes towards
the sexuality of individuals with intellectual disability (Bazzo,
Nota, Soresi, Ferrari and Minnes, 2006).
• Studies in the UK and the US have shown that the attitudes
held by medical professionals may influence the quality of care
provided to people with intellectual disability (Barker & Howells,
1990; Minihan, Dean and Lyons, 1993).
• Barriers to health care included communication difficulties
and problems in obtaining patient histories. Other barriers
included GPs’ lack of training and experience, consultation
time constraints, examination difficulties and continuity of care
(Lennox, Diggens and Ugoni, 1997). [9]
9 526 GPs participated in a survey in Australia.