Working with intellectually disabled autistic individuals – a qualitative study using repertory grids
| Published date | 12 March 2018 |
| Date | 12 March 2018 |
| Pages | 22-31 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIDOB-08-2017-0017 |
| Author | Rachel Worthington,Chris Patterson,Neel Halder |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities,Offending behaviour,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Deviant behaviour,Education,Special education/gifted education,Emotional/behavioural disorders |
Working with intellectually disabled
autistic individuals –a qualitative study
using repertory grids
Rachel Worthington, Chris Patterson and Neel Halder
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to elucidate how care professionals/providers construe, understand
and make sense of the characteristics that are important when providing care to adults with intellectual
disability and autism spectrum disorder, based on their experiences of working within their roles within a
residential care setting.
Design/methodology/approach –Care professionals and providers working at a community autism and
intellectual disability service were interviewed to ascertain their experiences of working with this client group.
The research design adopted a qualitative methodology using repertory grids.
Findings –Ten members of staff who agreed to participate formed the study’s sample. This consisted of
team leaders, support workers, one member of the executive management team and one clinical member of
staff. Ten themes were identified for working effectively with people with autism and intellectual disabilities.
These were: making autism-specific adaptations, approachable, reflective/self-aware, strong understanding
of their residents/empathetic, benevolent, empowering, follows plans consistently, confident in ability to
support residents with autism, resilient, respectful.
Practical implications –The paper discusses each of these ten themes above and how employers can aid
in selecting individuals who may be more suited to working with this patient group.
Originality/value –A literature search demonstrated a lack of empirical research, especially qualitative
research, on this topic.
Keywords Staff, Intellectual disability, Qualitative, Residential, Learning disability, Autism
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Butrimaviciute and Grieve (2014) found that staff supporting residents with autism and
challenging behaviour experienced feelings of fear, helplessness, guilt and anticipation and
normalisation of violence which also mirrored the findings of previous research with staff caring
for clients with a learning disability (Campbell, 2010). Renty and Roeyers (2006) found no
evidence that IQ and autism-specific traits contributed to the prediction of quality of life.
In addition, they argued that the social model of disability should be applied in which disability is
defined as a social pathology (Oliver, 1996), and thus the extent to which one is “disabled”is the
result less of factors residing in the individual and more of the interaction between the individual
and the environment. The degree of disability is therefore more about person-environment fit.
According to Lord and Venter (1992), access to specialist and appropriate support provides
people with autism more opportunities to live independently (Tantam, 2003), to find and hold a
suitable job (Hurlbutt and Chalmers, 2004), to develop social relationships.
Peeters and Jordan (2010) felt that staff should: be intrinsically motivated to work with clients with
autism rather than being forced to; enjoy embracing differences in people rather than feeling
uncomfortable when something does not go as planned; be able to adapt their level of
assertiveness to the needs of the client (hence not being over-controlling and demanding when
Received 15 August 2017
Revised 26 November 2017
Accepted 26 November 2017
Rachel Worthington is based at
Mental Health Care UK Ltd,
Llangwyfan, UK.
Chris Patterson is a Trainee
Clinical Psychologist at the
Bangor University, Bangor, UK.
Neel Halder is a Consultant
Psychiatrist at GMMH NHS
Foundation Trust, Manchester,
UK.
PAGE22
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JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR
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VOL. 9 NO. 1 2018, pp.22-31, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8824 DOI 10.1108/JIDOB-08-2017-0017
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