Findings
Mental Health
Emotional, nervous and psychiatric conditions remained at a high prevalence, with almost 52% of participants reporting having received a doctor’s diagnosis.
Depression, anxiety and mood disorders were the main contributors to poor mental health.
Rates of depression and mood swings decreased from Wave 1 to Wave 3.
The incidence of newly-diagnosed mental health conditions, from Wave 2 to Wave 3, was low at 2.0%.
Participants with Down syndrome reported fewer mental health conditions (26.2%) than those without Down syndrome.
Participants who self-reported were more likely to rate their mental and emotional health as excellent/very good/good (92.9%) than those with joint self/proxy (78.2%) or proxy only (70.8%) responses. This represented the highest self-rating of positive mental health to date across the three waves.
Prevalence of depression, as measured using the Glasgow Depression Scale for people with a Learning Disability (GDS-LD), was significantly higher than that in the general population with 10% of participants reporting symptoms
There was no significant difference in prevalence of depression between those in institutions (11.1%) and community group homes (11.3%).
Prevalence of anxiety, as measured using the Glasgow Anxiety Scale for people with a Learning Disability (GAS-LD), was similar to that in the mainstream population with 15.1% reporting symptoms. Anxiety was more frequently reported in those living in community settings than in institutions.
The mean score for the Energy and Vitality Index (EVI) was 68.3, similar to that reported for the general older population in Ireland.