Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, UK.
Health Soc Care Community. 2019 Jul;27(4):e514-e521. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12750. Epub 2019 Apr 14.
People with an intellectual disability (ID) face significant health inequalities and barriers to accessing appropriate support, which are made worse if the person is also homeless. An important barrier is that services may not recognise that the person has ID. This qualitative study explored the views of staff members and service users about the identification and support needs of homeless people with ID and the role of an ID screening questionnaire as a way to help improve service provision. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 staff members and 8 service users from homeless services in the South East of Scotland between March 2017 and 2018. Thematic analysis identified four themes: 'not diagnosed or declared', which explored the barriers to support due to the person's ID not being identified by others or disclosed by the person; 'It will crumble men', which reported on the additional challenges faced by homeless people with ID; 'disabling environment' which identified the ways in which organisations can make support difficult for people with ID to access; and 'It's not against them, it's to help them' which explored the benefits and issues associated with screening for ID in homeless services. The results identified the complex support needs likely to be experienced by many homeless people with ID and suggested a number of implications for practice. First, the screening tool was seen as having a number of benefits, if used where there is a process to provide the person with further specialist assessment and support. Second, staff members identified a need for training in relation to identifying and supporting this group of people. Third, the screening tool was seen as a way to help provide information about the prevalence and needs of people with ID, in order to inform and shape policy, service development, and delivery.
智障人士（ID）面临着严重的健康不平等和获得适当支持的障碍，如果他们同时无家可归，这些障碍会更加严重。一个重要的障碍是服务机构可能没有意识到该人有 ID。这项定性研究探讨了工作人员和服务使用者对无家可归的智障人士的识别和支持需求的看法，以及 ID 筛查问卷作为帮助改善服务提供的一种方式的作用。2017 年 3 月至 2018 年期间，在苏格兰东南部的无家可归服务部门对 16 名工作人员和 8 名服务使用者进行了半结构化访谈。主题分析确定了四个主题：“未诊断或未宣布”，探讨了由于其他人未识别或该人未透露 ID 而导致支持受阻的障碍；“它会摧毁男人”，报告了无家可归的智障人士面临的额外挑战；“使环境致残”，确定了组织使智障人士难以获得支持的方式；以及“这不是针对他们，而是为了帮助他们”，探讨了在无家可归服务中筛查 ID 的好处和相关问题。研究结果确定了许多无家可归的智障人士可能经历的复杂支持需求，并对实践提出了一些影响。首先，如果有一个为该人提供进一步的专业评估和支持的流程，那么筛查工具被认为具有许多好处。其次，工作人员认为需要在识别和支持这一人群方面进行培训。第三，该筛查工具被视为一种帮助提供有关智障人士的患病率和需求的信息的方式，以便为政策、服务开发和交付提供信息和塑造政策。
Zotero 插件