The life expectancy of individuals with intellectual disabilities is increasing. Clinicians of organizations that provide personalized care to individuals with intellectual disabilities experience...Show moreThe life expectancy of individuals with intellectual disabilities is increasing. Clinicians of organizations that provide personalized care to individuals with intellectual disabilities experience complicating factors in the diagnostic process of dementia classification. Identifying domains of (cognitive) functioning underlying the ‘Dementia Scale for individuals with Intellectual Disabilities’ (DSVH) could aid these organizations in the development of personalized care guidelines for individuals with intellectual disabilities and dementia. The aim of this pilot study was to identify potential domains of (cognitive) functioning underlying the DSVH. It was hypothesized that domains regarding mood, aggression, appetite, loss of interest, functional decline (reduced self-care skills), cognitive decline, personality, speech, maladaptive behaviours, disorientation, confusion, environmental awareness, and motor skills would be found. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis was employed to visualize the relationship between different active variables in a sample consisting of 50 participants (n = 50). Domains regarding the presence of forgetfulness, an increase in negative mood, decline in motor skills, decline in orientation in time, decline in responses to stimuli, and a decline in characteristic behaviour were found. The results found in this study suggest that those domains of (cognitive) functioning might be underlying the DSVH, that could be uncovered when the analysis is performed on a sufficiently large and diverse sample in future studies.Show less
The present study investigated possible underlying mechanisms of presentation anxiety in adolescents with a mild to borderline intellectual disability. Presentation anxiety was measured through...Show moreThe present study investigated possible underlying mechanisms of presentation anxiety in adolescents with a mild to borderline intellectual disability. Presentation anxiety was measured through self-reports and teacher-reports. Due to disagreements on whether presentation anxiety exists independently from, or as a subtype of, social anxiety, the present study investigated both anxiety-types separately. Participants were 14 adolescents with MBID in the age of 12-23 who completed abbreviated intelligence measures and questionnaires on the underlying mechanisms. Results showed neither a correlation nor a difference between self- and teacher-reported presentation anxiety. Moreover, self-reported presentation anxiety was positively correlated with social anxiety and negative interpretation bias, whereas teacher-reported presentation anxiety was not correlated with any of the variables. Hierarchical regression analyses controlling for IQ showed that peer attachment was a significant predictor for self-reported presentation anxiety and social anxiety. It is concluded that peers play an important role in the development of presentation anxiety in MBID adolescents and should therefore be a point of attention for schools, caregivers and treatments. Future studies should focus on including a larger sample and should consider including peer-reports.Show less
