Assessing the quality of support and discovering sources of resilience during COVID-19 measures in people with intellectual disabilities by professional carers.
Remote support dulls contact quality yet clients stay resilient, so screen for hidden needs and lead with strengths.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Scheffers et al. (2021) asked professional carers how COVID-19 lockdowns changed support for adults with intellectual disabilities.
The team used an online survey. Carers rated the quality of contact and noted signs of client resilience.
What they found
Remote support lowered contact quality. Carers saw fewer smiles, less shared talk, and more silence.
Yet clients still showed high resilience. They coped with routine changes and kept good moods most days.
How this fits with other research
Ingersoll et al. (2024) extends this picture. Their telehealth parent coaching lifted child language months later. Remote help can work when it trains parents to use clear strategies every day.
Keintz et al. (2011) used in-person video feedback to boost caregiver warmth. They saw gains in carer behavior but not in client responses. Femke’s carers saw the same gap: contact quality dropped even when clients stayed calm.
Ferreri et al. (2011) reviewed health checks and found many hidden medical needs in people with ID. Femke’s poorer remote contact may miss these needs again, so double-check health signs during video calls.
Why it matters
You can’t hug through a screen, but you can still spot strengths. Start each remote session with a quick wellness scan: look for pain cues, sleep signs, and new behaviors. Then build the session around a favorite activity the client already does well. This keeps engagement high even when the medium feels cold.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: During COVID-19 measures face-to-face contact is limited and professional carers have to find other ways to support people with intellectual disabilities. COVID-19 measures can increase stress in people with intellectual disabilities, although some people may adapt to or grow from these uncertain situations. Resilience is the process of effectively negotiating, adapting to, or managing significant sources of stress and trauma. The current study aims to provide professional carers with new insights into how they can support people with intellectual disabilities. METHOD: An online survey was shared through the social media and organizational newsletters of MEE ZHN (a non-governmental organization for people with disabilities). The resilience framework by Ungar (2019) was adapted to fit to people with intellectual disabilities during COVID-19 measures. Statistical analyses were performed in SPSS statistics version 26. RESULTS: Results show that professional carers applied diverse and distal methods to maintain contact with people with intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 measures. Professional carers reported a significant decrease in the quality of contact with clients with intellectual disabilities, but overall high levels of resilience in the same clients. IMPLICATIONS: Online methods of communication are possibly insufficient for professionals to cover all needs of people with intellectual disabilities. During this pandemic professionals should be aware of stress but also of resilience in people with intellectual disabilities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30566-3