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Biomedical subjects

Yona Lunsky

Publications and source records attributed to Yona Lunsky.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

A preliminary study of perceived stress in adults with intellectual disabilities according to self-report and informant ratings.

BACKGROUND: Stress is a major risk factor for mental health problems in individuals with intellectual disabilities, however few studies on stress have been conducted that take into account the perspective of both the person with the disability and the caregiver. The present study evaluated an informant version of the Lifestress Inventory, and compared it to the self-report version. METHOD: Seventy individuals with intellectual disability paired with their caregivers completed the Lifestress Inventory, the Inventory of Negative Social Interactions and the Birleson Depression Scale. RESULTS: Informant and self-report ratings on the Lifestress Inventory were internally reliable, showed modest agreement with each other and correlated with the Negative Social Interactions and Depression measures. The most troublesome stressors reported by informants and self-reports differed, however, and families tended to agree more with self-reports than did staff informants. CONCLUSIONS: The informant version of the Lifestress Inventory is a suitable parallel instrument but not a replacement for self-reports.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2006

The clinical profile and service needs of hospitalized adults with mental retardation and a psychiatric diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: This study compared patients with both mental retardation and a psychiatric diagnosis with patients who did not have co-occurring mental retardation who were served in Ontario's tertiary mental health care system in terms of demographic characteristics, symptom profile, strengths and resources, and clinical service needs. METHODS: A secondary analysis of data from the Colorado Client Assessment Record (CCAR) that were collected between 1999 and 2003 from all tertiary psychiatric hospitals in Ontario, Canada, was completed for a random sample of 3,927 cases, representing 12,470 patients receiving psychiatric services. RESULTS: Patients with both mental retardation and a psychiatric diagnosis differed from those who did not have mental retardation in terms of demographic characteristics, diagnostic and symptom profile, resources, and recommended level of care. More specifically, patients with both mental retardation and a psychiatric diagnosis had significantly worse ratings across nearly all CCAR functional domains and were assessed as requiring more than the recommended levels of care compared with other patients. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who have both mental retardation and a psychiatric diagnosis constitute a sizeable subgroup of an already underserved psychiatric hospital population. Greater attention is required to meet the unique clinical and service needs of this challenging group.

Comorbidity↗
PubMed2005

Suicide behavior in persons with intellectual disability.

Suicide is today in the Western world one of the leading causes of death and most people have had suicidal ideation at some time during their life. In the population of persons with intellectual disability some researchers have thought that impaired intellectual capacity could act as a buffer to suicidal behavior, but the fact is that the few studies conducted in that population contest this assumption and showed that the characteristics of suicidality in this population are very similar to persons without intellectual disability. This paper reviews the studies conducted and describe the symptomatology in this population. Professionals working with this population should therefore be aware of and assess for this behavior. Sadness or depression are symptoms that could indicate later suicidal behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Extra-individual sources of social support as described by adults with mild intellectual disabilities.

The extra-individual social support responses provided by adults with intellectual disabilities on a social support survey were examined. Felton and Berry (1992) argued that extra-individual social support, support from larger than individual entities, is a valid source of social support for older adults. We hypothesized that extra-individual support would also be relevant to adults with intellectual disabilities. Results showed that 43% of participants with intellectual disabilities listed extra-individual support sources in their social networks or as providers of one of several support functions. The most popular forms of extra-individual support were those from "staff" and "work." Findings are discussed in terms of implications for social support measurement for persons with intellectual disabilities.

Adult↗