Understanding compassion in intellectual disability services

Abstract

Section one of this thesis presents a systematic literature review which investigated the experiences of people with an intellectual disability of psychological talking therapy. Ten studies were included and reviewed. Eight main themes and three sub themes emerged. Developing new positive relationships along with learning new skills and confidentiality were important to people with intellectual disabilities. Negative aspects of therapy including both interpersonal problems with others in a group setting as well as process issues were difficult as was therapy itself. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed. Section two reports the findings from a qualitative, thematic analysis of staff’s understanding of the concept of compassion. Ten participants who directly worked with people with intellectual disabilities in community support setting were recruited and took part in semi-structured interviews. Four themes emerged. The themes from the research mapped onto the appraisal model of compassion that could be used by services to support a compassionate culture. The third section is the critical appraisal which provides reflections on the research process and a discussion of compassion in care. The fourth section contains the ethics application and approval documents for this thesis.