Sensory environments and autistic people
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Sensory environments and autistic people: Does having information on sensory needs improve quality of life of autistic adults with severe intellectual disabilities and other conditions?
IRAS ID
266859
Contact name
Jill Bradshaw
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Kent
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, days
Research summary
Autistic and autistic people with intellectual disabilities often experience differences in processing sensory information. This can be disabling. Sensory checklists can be used to assess the sensory needs and the sensory environment. However, little is known about whether having information about sensory needs leads to changes being made in the environment, or whether changes made lead to an improved quality of life.
In this research, services will be asked to complete a sensory assessment checklist. Researchers will come and observe the sensory environment and complete the Personal Wellbeing (PWI) Index (where possible) with the individual. After a few months, the service will be asked to complete the sensory assessment checklist again. Researchers will then come back and observe the sensory environment and complete the PWI (where possible) with the individual. Researchers will carry out interviews with staff and the service user (where possible) to find out views about sensory needs and the sensory environment.
Different resources will be provided to each of the three groups.
Group 1 will receive no further information.
Group 2 will receive additional information about how to meet sensory needs.
Group 3 will receive information about how to meet sensory needs and a Community of Practice, will be set up to support the service to think about implementing changes. Researchers will record information about the Community of Practice. They will interview members of the Community of Practice towards the end of the research to find out views about being part of the Community of Practice.
The aims of the study are 1) to assess the impact of different approaches to providing information about an individual’s sensory needs in terms of the match between assessed needs and the sensory environment, 2) to find out whether changes in the sensory environment impact on quality of life.REC name
Scotland A: Adults with Incapacity only
REC reference
19/SS/0092
Date of REC Opinion
24 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion