How do people with intellectual disabilities understand friendship? A systematic meta-synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Previous systematic reviews of the relationships of people with intellectual disabilities have included consideration of intimate relationships. In this paper, we report a systematic review of papers describing friendship only. METHOD: A systematic qualitative meta-synthesis of the research exploring experiences of friendship as reported by people with intellectual disabilities. RESULTS: Seven papers met the inclusion criteria for analysis. Three superordinate themes were identified. (1) Reciprocity, 'Someone who helps me, and I help them'. (2) The building blocks of friendships, 'I can tell her some secrets'. (3) Managing friendship difficulties, 'In real life it's much harder'. CONCLUSION: People with intellectual disabilities value friendship and actively engage in reciprocal exchanges. We explore the strengths and limitations of current research, clinical implications, and directions for future research.

'It's a good thing we're doing, we just need to be better at it'. Forensic intellectual disability nursing experiences of Transforming Care: A multi-perspectival interpretive phenomenological analysis.

BACKGROUND: Concerns have been expressed regarding the impact of Transforming Care (TC) an English deinstitutionalisation mandate, on forensic services. With nursing staff positioned as significant in delivering TC; this research explored nursing experiences. METHOD: Nine face-to-face semi-structured interviews were completed with nursing staff working in either inpatient or community forensic teams. Multi-perspectival interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to explore participants' experiences. Interviews were analysed independently, prior to a mini meta-synthesis. RESULTS: Participants from the inpatient group experienced TC as a threat, which resulted in consistency of perspective and practice. Participants from the community group viewed TC as a worthwhile challenge, which presented opportunity. The community infrastructure was experienced as inadequate by both groups, with the needs of people in forensic services needing more consideration, leading to widespread frustration. CONCLUSIONS: The blanket approach of TC may not be suitable for this population, with those leading TC perceived as naïve.