Trauma through the lens of service coordinators: exploring their awareness of adverse life events among adults with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Purpose

With an expansion of trauma knowledge in the field of intellectual disabilities (ID) there is a responsibility among service providers to be trauma-informed. Among those providers are service coordinators (SCs) who are involved in the lives of individuals through the assessment of needs and linkage with necessary supports. The purpose of this paper is to explore SCs’ understanding of individuals’ experiences of adverse life events, trauma, and related services.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 15 SCs, encompassing the experiences of 29 individuals with mild ID. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach.

Findings

From SCs’ perspective, individuals’ experiences were comprised of three major categories – experiencing adversity, responding to adversity and adapting to adversity – influenced by precipitating and perpetuating conditions. Despite a lack of familiarity with the term “trauma,” in general, SCs possessed a rich understanding of individuals’ comprehensive experiences including types of events, responses to events, environmental factors, and implications of respective services.

Originality/value

This is an original approach to understanding the awareness of trauma among an integral group of providers for individuals with ID. This paper shows that, although there is a need to reframe current knowledge, SCs can be an asset to facilitate organizational endeavors to become trauma-informed thus having a potential impact on individuals’ quality of life.

Citation

M. Keesler, J. (2014), "Trauma through the lens of service coordinators: exploring their awareness of adverse life events among adults with intellectual disabilities", Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 151-164. https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-04-2013-0028