Quality of life as a concept for developing learning disability nursing practice?

This paper offers a critical examination of how the concept of Quality of Life might be used to enhance learning disability nursing practice. Quality of Life will increasingly influence the provision and evaluation of services and practice in the field of learning disability. Attempting to define and assess Quality of Life is, however, problematic because of the complexity and multidimensional nature of the concept. The use of domains to measure Quality of Life is advocated by many researchers for both objective and subjective measures and use of Quality of Life as an evaluation tool is seen as a way of improving the life quality of people with learning disabilities. However, there are concerns that the use of such an approach could perpetuate professional agendas rather than empower people with learning disabilities themselves. To date, Quality of Life approaches have not had a major impact on learning disability nursing. However, it is suggested that they can be helpful as sensitizing concepts, a basis for collaborative care planning and a framework for evaluation. Recommendations are made for education, practice and research.

Research utilization and attitudes towards research among learning disability nurses in Northern Ireland

Research utilization and attitudes towards research among learning disability nurses in Northern Ireland The current emphasis on evidence-based practice has focused attention once again on the research activities of health professionals in general and their research utilization in particular. While there has been a limited number of studies on research utilization in the United Kingdom, these have tended to concentrate on general nurses and midwives. Little is known about the research activities, research utilization and the attitudes to research of learning disability nurses. This paper reports on data from a survey of a convenience sample of 87 nurses from three learning disability hospitals in Northern Ireland. The results show that while these nurses generally held positive attitudes to research, a substantial minority (18.3%) believed that 'research is not relevant to the day to day work in nursing'. Only a quarter of the sample reported using research 'frequently/all the time' in their practice. The extent of research utilization among these disability nurses must be considerably improved if evidence-based practice is to become a reality in their field of nursing.