A challenge to nursing: an historical review of intellectual disability nursing in the UK and Ireland

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide an account of the early development of what was originally known as 'mental deficiency' nursing in the UK and Ireland. After a brief review of research literature, it analyses key issues behind the development of a workforce positioned on the margins of nursing in the two jurisdictions through a comparative discussion of similarities and differences. The paper draws on two doctoral studies that examined the development of intellectual disability nursing using an historiographical design. Primary sources consulted included records of nursing regulatory bodies, national archives, Royal College of Psychiatrists, archives, nursing journals, individual institutional records in both jurisdictions. In both countries, psychiatrists established early training programmes for nurses, although a nursing model was adopted to meet service needs in the 1950s. However, the way in which this branch of nursing developed laid the foundation for tensions as to whether it is appropriately located within the discipline of nursing. Ireland's colonial past and postcolonial position, the role of the church, welfare systems and diverse socio-political drivers for change represent key differences between the two jurisdictions. What eventually became known as learning or intellectual disability nursing poses a continued challenge for the profession as a whole in regard to its breadth, role and focus in working with marginalised groups in society. The paper considers the risks for UK and Irish intellectual disability nurses for marginalisation in nursing should they forge closer links to other disciplines concerned with common threads of disability, education or social care.