People with intellectual disabilities perspectives on interventions for sleep problems.

People with intellectual disabilities are more likely to have problems with their sleep, than people who do not have an intellectual disability (Browne et al., 2024: Shanahan et al., 2023). Given that sleep is important for health, happiness, and brain performance, interventions to support sleep that are viewed as acceptable and feasible are needed. However, research on sleep typically excludes the voice of people with intellectual disabilities, relying on proxy reports or more objective measures of sleep (Harper et al., 2023). Therefore, talking mats were used as a communication tool to support interviews to gain insight into the perspectives of six participants with intellectual disabilities about different sleep interventions. Results indicated that participants had tried several different strategies to help them to sleep well. Despite there being a wide variation on the preferences participants had towards interventions that they would be willing to try, taking sleeping tablets appeared to be the least preferred method. As an alternative participants gave more positive comments relating to relaxing music, aromatherapy, going for a walk in daylight, dietary interventions and a bedtime routine. In conclusion, individuals preference relating to sleep interventions varied across the group. Highlighting how individuals preferences, needs and wishes need to be considered prior to designing care plans aimed at improving sleep.

References.
Browne, E.G., King, J.R. and Surtees, A.D.R. (2024) ‘Sleep in people with and without intellectual disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, Journal of intellectual disability research, 68(1), pp. 1–22.
Harper, L., McAnelly, S., Walshe, I., Ooms, A., and Tuffrey‐Wijne, I. (2023) ‘Behavioural sleep problems in children and adults with intellectual disabilities: An integrative literature review’, Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities, 36(5), pp. 916–928.
Shanahan, P., Ahmad, S., Smith, K., Palod, S., & Fife‐Schaw, C. (2023). The prevalence of sleep disorders in adults with learning disabilities: A systematic review. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 51(3), 344–367.