COVID-19 and people with profound and multiple learning disabilities: What did people tell us at Wave 4 (September to December 2022)

Our Coronavirus and People with Learning Disabilities Study has been collecting data from people with learning disabilities and family carers/support workers since 2020. The team wanted to make sure that the experiences of people with learning disabilities were visible during the pandemic. We have been collecting data from people with learning disabilities who were able to take part in an interview (cohort 1) and from family carers and support workers for people unable to take part in an interview themselves (cohort 2). Cohort 2 included people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities.

Family carers, support workers and organisations who work to support people with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities, including PMLD Link, have worked with us to help us to ask the right questions. The research has focused on three key areas:

What are the wellbeing, health, and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including social restrictions and changes to how people are supported, on the lives of adults with learning disabilities across the UK over time?

What actionable factors are associated with better outcomes for different groups of people with learning disabilities?

What urgent issues concerning people with learning disabilities are emerging over time?

This article is a summary of the information about People with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities. The data on which this article is based was collected between September and December 2022, Wave 4. You can read the full reports here: coronavirus_and_people_with_learning_disabilities_study_wave_4_full_report_final.pdf (warwick.ac.uk).