CPD

Conducting mental health assessments of people with learning disabilities

Dorothy Kupara Senior lecturer and course leader in learning disability nursing, College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, University of West London, London, England

Peter Woodward Senior lecturer in learning disabilities, School of Health Sciences, University of Greenwich, London, England

Why you should read this article:

• To recognise the challenges that may be involved in undertaking mental health assessments of people with learning disabilities
• To identify appropriate communication skills, strategies and approaches that can be used when conducting mental health assessments of people with learning disabilities
• To contribute towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD (UK readers)
• To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers)

Mental health issues are not only more prevalent in people with learning disabilities compared with the general population, but they are also more challenging to assess and diagnose. Reasons for this may include the communication issues and cognitive impairments often experienced by people with learning disabilities. This article describes some of the challenges that nurses and other healthcare professionals may encounter when assessing mental health issues in people with learning disabilities. It provides practical advice on how to conduct an effective mental health assessment and outlines a range of communication strategies that can be used to overcome any issues that occur.

Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2023.e2218

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@wakups

Correspondence

Dorothy.kupara@uwl.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Kupara D, Woodward P (2023) Conducting mental health assessments of people with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2023.e2218

Published online: 22 June 2023

Keywords :

accessible information - communication - diagnostic overshadowing - language - learning disability - mental health - patient assessment - patients - professional