Bullying and people with severe intellectual disability.
Although bullying has been shown to reduce quality of life in many spheres, anti-bullying strategies have yet to be incorporated into services for adults with severe intellectual disability (ID). The present study employed a survey of staff and parent concerns about 54 previously surveyed students who had left a school for pupils with severe ID. A content analysis of follow-up interviews was performed in 10 cases. Staff identified 19% of the survey sample as bullying others and 11% as being picked on. Neither gender nor communication ability had an impact. There was no significant change in bully or victim status over time, although some people did change. Parents or staff raised bully/victim problems in more than half of the interviews. There is sufficient evidence of bullying behaviour to warrant the adoption of anti-bullying strategies.
Sheard
C
C
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. Charlotte.Sheard@nottingham.ac.uk
Clegg
J
J
Standen
P
P
Cromby
J
J
D000328:Adult; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003625:Data Collection; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019989:Persons with Intellectual Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology