King's College London

Led by Prof Jill Bradshaw and Dr Annette Bauer, the first work package of the Improving Communication with Adults with Learning Disabilities (ICALD) programme, consists of a realist review which aims to gather evidence on interventions and approaches that have been used to promote good communication for adults with learning disabilities using social care.

The aim of a realist review is to understand "what works for whom, how and under what circumstances. The approach is particularly suited for complex interventions". The accumulation of insights from a realist review also helps to assess whether interventions that proved successful in one context, may be so in another (Pawson & Tilley, 1997).

In addition to the realist review we will conduct interviews and expert consultations with stakeholders including staff, managers, trainers, family carers and people with learning disabilities, which will complement the findings of the realist review and feed into the development of theories and assumptions, which will inform the development of subsequent ICALD work packages.

Aims

The aim of the realist review is to answer the following research questions:

• What kind of interventions exist that support or promote good communication between staff and adults with learning disabilities, or increase communication abilities skills of adults with learning disabilities?
• What kind of outcomes do these interventions achieve?
• How do these interventions work, and what human or other resource inputs do they require?
• What factors influence the delivery and outcomes of these interventions?

Methods

The review has been registered on PROSPERO where the full methodological details can be found.

Meet the Team