Abstract
The UK-wide review of learning disability nursing, Strengthening the Commitment (Scottish Government, 2012) identified 17 key actions. A variety of task groups have been working through them under the 4 main themes of 1) workforce capacity, 2) the capability of the workforce to meet needs, 3) the quality of service delivery and 4) strengthening leadership at all levels.
This literature review and critical appraisal has been funded by Public Health England. It fulfils an element of the Strengthening the Commitment project and provides a review and critical appraisal of research published between 2000 and 2018 on the role of the learning disability nurse supporting children, young people and families.
It is important to clarify that currently we refer to Learning Disability Nurses (LDN) and the Registered Nurse Learning Disability (RNLD) in most parts of the UK. There has been a drive to promote the use of the term Intellectual Disability Nurse and this has been adopted in America, Ireland and Northern Ireland and it is recognised in other countries around the world. For clarity, the terms RNLD, LDN and learning disabilities (LD) will be utilised within this report.
1.1: Ethical considerations
This study has utilised evidence accessed from the public domain, ethical clearance was not requested in anticipation of the secondary analysis of publicly available data.
1.2: Summary of the findings:
• There is a limited amount of learning disability nursing research and evidence pertaining to working with children, young people and families
• Searching the literature for learning disability nurse research is a complicated process, many variations of search terms need to be utilised and adapted to each database and search engine
• Papers which may appear superficially to reflect the role of the learning disability nurse, may have different content matter
• 39 papers were identified from the UK and Ireland for inclusion in the review
• There were 21 papers published between 2000 and 2009 and 18 papers between 2010 and early 2018
• One unpublished dissertation was included, few accessible student dissertations were identified when searching the grey literature
• 8 papers utilised quantitive approaches
• 8 papers utilised qualitative approaches
• The remainder of the included material would be considered ‘weak’ sources, often representing the individual’s own expert opinion
• Very few papers accessed the child or young person’s voice or included families of children with learning disabilities
• Learning disability nurses continue to be present in diverse and specialist roles
• The aim of advancing knowledge of the role and impact of the role is explicit in some papers
• The benefits of group work with children with learning disabilities and their families were represented in 4 papers
• Papers were accessed via 14 journals
This literature review and critical appraisal has been funded by Public Health England. It fulfils an element of the Strengthening the Commitment project and provides a review and critical appraisal of research published between 2000 and 2018 on the role of the learning disability nurse supporting children, young people and families.
It is important to clarify that currently we refer to Learning Disability Nurses (LDN) and the Registered Nurse Learning Disability (RNLD) in most parts of the UK. There has been a drive to promote the use of the term Intellectual Disability Nurse and this has been adopted in America, Ireland and Northern Ireland and it is recognised in other countries around the world. For clarity, the terms RNLD, LDN and learning disabilities (LD) will be utilised within this report.
1.1: Ethical considerations
This study has utilised evidence accessed from the public domain, ethical clearance was not requested in anticipation of the secondary analysis of publicly available data.
1.2: Summary of the findings:
• There is a limited amount of learning disability nursing research and evidence pertaining to working with children, young people and families
• Searching the literature for learning disability nurse research is a complicated process, many variations of search terms need to be utilised and adapted to each database and search engine
• Papers which may appear superficially to reflect the role of the learning disability nurse, may have different content matter
• 39 papers were identified from the UK and Ireland for inclusion in the review
• There were 21 papers published between 2000 and 2009 and 18 papers between 2010 and early 2018
• One unpublished dissertation was included, few accessible student dissertations were identified when searching the grey literature
• 8 papers utilised quantitive approaches
• 8 papers utilised qualitative approaches
• The remainder of the included material would be considered ‘weak’ sources, often representing the individual’s own expert opinion
• Very few papers accessed the child or young person’s voice or included families of children with learning disabilities
• Learning disability nurses continue to be present in diverse and specialist roles
• The aim of advancing knowledge of the role and impact of the role is explicit in some papers
• The benefits of group work with children with learning disabilities and their families were represented in 4 papers
• Papers were accessed via 14 journals
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Public Health England |
| Number of pages | 49 |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Apr 2018 |
