Quality of life: a survey of parents of children/adults with an intellectual disability who are availing of respite care

Two-thirds of the people registered on the Irish National Intellectual Disability Database (NIDD) reside at home with family members frequently supporting them (Kelly et al., National Intellectual Disability Database Committee Annual Report 2006, Health Research, 2007). Use of respite care services by parents with a child/adult with an intellectual disability (ID) in Ireland is growing in the context of social policy initiatives for greater social inclusion of people with disabilities. Irish parents who care for their child/adult with an ID at home are not asking for the care of their child/adult to be taken away from them, but to assist them in this role and to help them to meet the demands of personal, family, social and work life, they need to be supported with reliable, flexible and responsive services (Redmond & Richardson, J Appl Res Intellect Disabil, 2003; 16: 205-218). Parents often have to negotiate complex barriers to access support services such as respite, health or social care (Sloper, Child Care Health Dev, 1999; 25: 85-99). Chadwick et al, (Child Adolesc Ment Health 2002; 7: 66-72) suggest that respite care was primarily regarded as a service that was provided to relieve parental burdens. This article draws on a recent study that investigated the quality of life of parents of children/adults who have an intellectual disability and who are availing of respite care. The findings suggest that parents are experiencing 'good' to 'excellent' quality of life and that demand exceeds supply. More work needs to be carried out to establish what services are deemed most valuable to parents and to show how their needs can be met to the best of the Health Service Providers ability.