title: Learning disability nursing: from normalization to materialism--towards a new paradigm.
abstract: For almost 2 decades the 'normalization principle' has provided the dominant paradigm for the planning and evaluation of nursing services to people with a learning disability within the United Kingdom. This has reflected the international influence of this philosophy in services to a wide range of disadvantaged and marginalized groups. However, this paper will argue that nurses working with this client group are facing a range of social and political changes which expose the weaknesses in this paradigm. This calls for a new approach to the way the relationship between practitioners and their clients is conceptualized. Here it is argued that a materialist paradigm provides a more realistic framework upon which to base future nursing practice.
authors.affiliation: Southampton University College of Nursing and Midwifery, Department of Learning Disability Nursing, Hampshire, England.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gilbert
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000451:nursing*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009742:Nursing Theory; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000639:trends; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000639:trends; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012931:Social Environment; D006113:United Kingdom