Introduction: Catering to the Needs of Patients with Learning Disabilities (PLDs)
Problem Background and Significance: The Inconsistencies in the Current Approach to PLDs Nursing
The necessity to cater to the needs of people with learning disabilities (PLDs) has been the focus of nursing for quite a while (Sheehan et al., 2016). A range of frameworks has been suggested, including the use of the liaison nurse’s services. However, most of the tools used currently to manage the issue imply that the patients are incapable of having any significant abilities or, furthermore, talents. As a result, the opportunities for PLDs to receive the required knowledge and skills, therefore, improving their literacy rates, are limited.
Herein lies the significance of the paper. By considering the tools that will allow for the exploration of PLDs’ abilities and even talents (i.e., the talent-oriented therapy and the use of crossed networks as the communication platform), one is likely to enable the target audience to discover new opportunities and gain the required literacy-related skills actively.
Statement of the Problem and Purpose: Determining the Tools for Improving the Strategy of PLD Needs Management
Therefore, the lack of prospects for PLDs to discover their talents and develop the corresponding literacy skills can be viewed as the primary problem that the paper is going to address. The purpose of the research is to identify the effects of applying talent-oriented therapy and the crossed networks therapy on PLDs’ ability to acquire the necessary skills and process the relevant information. Although the tool to be designed in the course of the research will have to experience a range of tests, it will serve as the impetus for the further development of the framework.
Literature Review: The Current Strategies and Latest Suggestions
Summary: Considering the Content
Learning disability (LD) is a notoriously common issue that implies the inability of the patient to acquire certain literacy skills. Although there might be some variations, the phenomenon of LD typically involves the cases such as dyspraxia (facial muscle control issues causing difficulties with speech), dyslexia (problems with reading, writing, spelling, and sometimes speaking), dysgraphia (the impairment of one’s handwriting abilities), and dyscalculia (an impossibility for the patient to acquire and use the basic mathematical skills).
Although the traditional methods of addressing the problems mentioned above in adults provide a variety of opportunities in sustaining the patients, they lack the positive reinforcement that will become an incentive for the patients to engage in the learning process more actively. Furthermore, the significance of communication, as well as the use of the IT tools as the assistance in the process of meeting the needs of PLDs is rarely viewed as an option, which calls for a reconsideration of the current approaches.
The phenomenon of LD is traditionally referred to as the discrepancy in intelligence progress and associated achievements. However, a more comprehensive definition of the subject matter has been provided lately, shedding light on the nature of the problem and pointing to the possible ways of managing it. Revathi and Arthi (2014) define the disorder in the following manner: “Learning Disability is a heterogeneous group of disorders which affect listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, Math and social skills of an individual” (Revathi & Arthi, 2014, p. 83).
Therefore, the current identification of the problem indicates that an individual with LD is likely to experience difficulties in learning as opposed to expressing the idea of one’s complete incapability of acquiring the corresponding learning skills. Furthermore, the definition does not allow dismissing the chances for the patient to have any specific talents that can be used to support their learning process and help them become active members of society.
Indeed, a closer look at the current approaches toward meeting the needs of PLDs will show that there is very little emphasis on the opportunities that the patients can pursue, as well as the chances of developing unique abilities and discovering talents that they possibly have. Instead, a limited amount of knowledge and skills are taught to the target audience. For instance, the framework that involves the use of the LD liaison nurse needs to be brought up as one of the most common tools.
The identified approach, which implies that the nurse should become the medium for the patient to converse with the community through, should be considered a significant step in the right direction since it places a great emphasis on the importance of providing PLDs with a chance to interact with the community members. However, the role of the LD liaison nurse in the case in point is far too big for the patient to be enabled or, at the very least, encouraged to take an active part in the communication process.
Differently put, although the assistance of a nurse is required to create an opportunity for a PLD to acquire the necessary skills and become an active member of the community, it is also crucial that the patient should be engaged in the communication process. Moreover, it is desirable to provide PLDs with a chance to coordinate the conversation independently and navigate the communication process without LD liaison nurse rendering the patient’s ideas and being the medium between a PLD and the community.
Indeed, at present, an LD liaison nurse performs the function of a shield between the patient and the society. Although the identified model of therapy helps protect the target audience from experiencing negative emotions, it also prevents them from engaging in the learning process and, therefore, deprives them of the opportunity to try their chances in communication.
As far as the issue of the crossed networks and the application of the talent-oriented therapy are concerned, the two methods are comparatively new to the target environment (). Nevertheless, they are expected to prove to have a rather significant effect on the patients’ learning progress. The concept of crossed networks has already been used successfully when addressing the needs of people with age-related disabilities (Heller, Gibbons, & Fishing, 2015).
According to the outcomes of the research, the usage of the crossed network lines has proven to be very efficient in the identified case. The overlap of the networks mentioned above, i.e., the coordination between the management of the needs of aging people and those with developmental disabilities, has shown that the promotion of enhanced communication among the target audiences contributes to a significant improvement in their health status.
Similarly, the talent-oriented approach, which aims at exploring the opportunities of discovering new skills and applying them to the communication process, can be considered a comparatively new yet rather self-sufficient tendency in addressing the needs of PLDs. A recent study indicates that people with dyslexia may develop impressive leadership skills and gain success in the economic realm despite their speech impairments: “A degree of environmental control allows the affected worker to be more creative and more involved with people.
Successful people with dyslexia also develop ways of exerting control as a mechanism for coping with and compensating for difficulties” (Logan & Martin, 2012, p. 58). Although the concept of fostering talent development in people with speech impairments is comparatively new, it is bound to reinvent the current framework, which does not imply that PLDs may have any talent whatsoever. As a result, new opportunities will be provided to PLDs, and an entirely new, communication- and talent-oriented approach will be designed in nursing.
Evaluation: Determining the Credibility
Assessing the articles considered in the course of the review, one must mention that all of them can be credited as scholarly sources as they were published in peer-reviewed journals. Moreover, the fact that they were released in 2012 and later indicates that the articles are current and relevant to the contemporary studies of the PLD issues. Furthermore, all of the resources used in the paper address the problem of providing the nursing services of the appropriate quality to the target population, which makes the articles considered in the paper relevant.
Research Question and Hypothesis
Research Question
Does the focus on talent development in the context of crossing networks allow for an improvement in PLD’s learning abilities and a faster acquisition of knowledge and skills?
Hypothesis
The use of crossed networks and the talent-oriented therapy correlates directly with the speed and efficacy of knowledge and skills acquisition by PLDs.
Theoretical Framework: Disability Explained
Essential Theories and their Guiding Propositions
Even though the problem of LD and the associated issues has been getting disturbingly more common, there seems to be little to no change in the choice of the theories that the problem is approached from (Smith, Ooms, & Marks-Maran, 2016). However, the Social Model of Disability Theory, which has emerged comparatively recently. Is bound to reinvent the approach toward managing the problem.
Allowing one to point to the current misconception of disability shared by a range of members of the modern society, it claims that the traditional interpretation of disability as a roadblock to gaining knowledge is overrated. Specifically, the theory broadens the horizons of the nursing framework that may help PLDs acquire the necessary skills, as well as locate and develop unique abilities and talents (Lee, Connolly, Ashton, Barnett, & Crabbe, 2015).
Disability Theory Application: Looking for a Talent
Since the theory makes it clear that a range of social prejudices and misconceptions creates a roadblock for PLDs to develop their skills, it will serve both as the support for the use of the talent-oriented therapy and the enhancement of the crossed-networks-based communication. Indeed, on the one hand, the Social Model of Disability indicates that the social concept of disadvantages often deviates from the truth, therefore, preventing nurses from providing the target population with the opportunities that they deserve.
In other words, the framework sets premises for the application of the talent-oriented approach, helping nursing staff members encourage PLDs to search for their unique abilities. On the other hand, the model can be viewed as the impetus for focusing on the social aspect of the therapy and the engagement of PLDs into communication with other community members. Therefore, it supports both strategies.
Methodology: Tools to Be Used in Research
Sample and Setting: Who Will Be Measured
To retrieve the necessary data, PLDs from a local nursing facility will be invited to participate. A group of people (supposedly around 200 participants) will be included in the case study. As stressed above, a total of 200 participants will be included in the study. To draw a sample from the identified population, one will have to consider the formula designed for a paired t-test:
Using the formula identified above, one will be able to determine that the sample size will make 102 people in the case in point (Randolph & Myers, 2013).
A local nursing facility will be the primary setting of the study. the PLDs involved in the communication process should not be distracted by outside factors, which will become a tangible threat if the PLDs are transported to a new area. Thus, the hospital setting can be viewed as the first choice.
Sampling Strategy: Improving Credibility Rates
To reduce the study costs and introduce the principle of sustainable use of resources, one should consider the adoption of the convenience sampling approach. By definition, the tool in question is used as the means of reducing the costs and time related to the process of gathering evidence from the samples that are located far away from the researcher. The convenience sampling, in its turn, implies that the objects of the study should be near. Specifically, the data from the conversations that occur in the same forum yet between different research participants will be viewed as the target.
Research Design: Why Case Study Is the Best
Although a case study as a research design has its problems, it can be viewed as a perfect tool for the project since it reinforces the effect of the EBP approach applied to the case in point. Specifically, the case study will help analyze the changes in the participants’ behavior, the progress that they make as they partake in the network-based communication, and the effect that the talent-oriented therapy has on them.
Therefore, the case study provides a chance at tracking down the progress of the people involved and shape the strategies applied to manage the needs of PLDs. As a result, the current approaches can be improved and enhanced. Furthermore, the case study will serve as the basis for comparing the level of literacy among PLDs before and after the intervention. Consequently, the research design permits a detailed analysis of the progress that the participants are expected to experience.
Controlling Extraneous Variables
The design of the therapy implies that the patients should engage in the communication process with randomly assigned volunteers. Therefore, the choice of the conversation participant that will discuss the corresponding issues with the PLD involved in the case study cannot be controlled. Hence, it can be deemed as the key extraneous variable in the study. Similarly, the engagement rates that PLDs partaking in the study will show can hardly be viewed as initially controlled.
Nevertheless, some tools will help maintain the variables mentioned above in order and make sure that they do not affect the credibility of the research. For these purposes, the tools for increasing the participants’ enthusiasm, such as encouragements and rewards, should be viewed as an opportunity.
Instruments: Locating the Appropriate Testing Tools
As stressed above, the measurement process will require that the patients should be tested before and after the intervention. Thus, their progress will be possible to define. Among the available tests, the application of the test based on the CORE-LD Measurement Tool will have to be applied to test the participants’ literacy skills, as well as determine the changes in their skills development.
Intervention: Applying the Talent-Based approach
As stressed above, the focus on the abilities of the PLDs included in the study, as opposed to their impairments, is going to be the building block for creating a new therapy. Particularly, the patients will be provided with a significant degree of independence in their conversations, which are going to take place without the consistent supervision of the liaison nurse.
Although the communication process will still be observed by the nursing staff, the latter will not intervene, leaving the decision-making to the PLDs. To enhance the communication, PLDs will be provided with the tools that will make the conversation faster and more natural, at the same time helping the target audience acquire the necessary skills (e.g., OCR software, etc.).
Data Collection: Retrieving Conversation Logs
To receive the necessary information that will, later on, be quantified and used for the analysis, one will have to consider reading the communication logs. By locating the changes and tendencies in the conversation between the PLDs and the community volunteers, one will be capable of detecting the extent, to which the proposed tool helps address the problem.
Data Analysis Plans: Paired T-test
As stressed above, the quantitative research design is viewed as the foundation for the study. Therefore, the paired t-test should be used. Indeed, according to the existing definition, the device helps locate the effects that the strategies mentioned above have on PLDs involved in the case. Particularly, it will be necessary to test the correlation between the adoption of talent-based therapy and the rate of skills acquisition among PLDs. Similarly, the latter variable will have to be correlated to the one of using crossed network lines as the means of promoting a more active communication process and the community engagement among PLDs.
Ethical Issues: What May Cause Concerns
It should be borne in mind, though, that the research may cause some ethical concerns. Particularly, the study participants will be unable to give their consent, which means that the study will not be valid unless the legal guardians of the target audience will consent to their participation and sign the letter.
Limitations: Possible Roadblocks and the Ways of Controlling Them
Unfortunately, the study also has its limitations, the scope being the key one. Although the research embraces 200 PLDs, its outcomes will nonetheless have to be generalized to make the study implications applicable to the setting of a general nursing facility and an average PLD.
Implications for Practice: Building a talent-based Crossed Network Tool
Seeing that the current nursing environment does not have a well-developed framework incorporating the crossed networks and the talent-oriented therapy strategy, the addition of the tool in question to the array of strategies can be deemed as the primary implication of the research. Additionally, it is expected that the current study will spawn several follow-up papers exploring the problems related to the application of the talent-oriented tool and crossed networks in the context of a nursing facility.
Reference List
Heller, T., Gibbons, H. M., & Fishing, D. (2015). Caregiving and family support interventions: Crossing networks of aging and developmental disabilities. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 53(5), 329–345. DOI:10.1352/1934-9556-53.5.329
Lee, L., Connolly, N., Ashton, P., Barnett, M., & Crabbe, Z. (2015). Challenging behavior: Grounding practice in how students make sense of disruptions to learning and social environments. International Journal of Technology and Inclusive Education (IJTIE), 4(1), 530-539.
Logan, J., & Martin, N. (2012). Unusual talent: A study of successful leadership and delegation in entrepreneurs who have dyslexia. Journal of Inclusive Practice in Further and Higher Education, 4(1), 57-76.
Randolph, K. A., & Myers, L. L. (2013). Basic statistics in multivariate analysis. Oxford: OUP.
Sheehan, R., Gandesha, A., Hassiotis, A., Gallagher, P., Burnell, M., Jones, G.,… & Crawford, N. J. (2016). An audit of the quality of inpatient care for adults with learning disability in the UK. BMJ Open, 6(4), 1-7.
Smith, P., Ooms, A., & Marks-Maran, D. (2016). Active involvement of learning disabilities service users in the development and delivery of a teaching session to pre-registration nurses: Students’ perspectives. Nurse Education in Practice, 16(1), 111-118.