Can a mindfulness-informed intervention reduce aggressive behaviour in people with intellectual disabilities?...

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Intellectual Disabilities

Background:

• 10-20% of adults with intellectual disabilities exhibit challenging behaviors like aggression, often linked to anger.
• Difficulty managing anger negatively impacts quality of life and increases risks.
• Mindfulness-based therapies show promise in managing anger and reducing challenging behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test a UK protocol for a mindfulness-based intervention (Singh's Soles of the Feet meditation) for adults with intellectual disabilities and anger control issues.
• To assess the feasibility of delivering this intervention within National Health Service (NHS) Intellectual Disability (ID) teams.
• To inform the design of a larger randomized controlled trial and economic evaluation.

Main Methods:

• A feasibility study involving 20 adults with intellectual disabilities and anger control problems.
• Six sessions of mindfulness intervention delivered by a trained ID clinician.
• Monitoring of aggressive behavior, quality of life, anxiety, depression, and support service use at baseline, 2 months, and 6 months.
• Qualitative interviews with participants, carers, and therapists.
• Costing the intervention and testing health economics measures.

Main Results:

• Data collection on participant outcomes and intervention feasibility.
• Assessment of intervention acceptability and validity of outcome measures.
• Information gathered to guide future research design and economic evaluation.

Conclusions:

• The study will provide crucial data on the feasibility of the mindfulness intervention protocol.
• Findings will inform the development of a larger randomized controlled trial.
• The study will help determine the feasibility of a concurrent economic evaluation.