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An exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-74).

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Linden, Alannah
Other Authors: Shabalala, Nokuthula
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychology 2015
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access_status_str Open Access
author Linden, Alannah
author2 Shabalala, Nokuthula
author_browse Linden, Alannah
Shabalala, Nokuthula
author_facet Shabalala, Nokuthula
Linden, Alannah
author_sort Linden, Alannah
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-74).
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14333
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:41.376Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
publisher Department of Psychology
publisherStr Department of Psychology
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14333 An exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse Linden, Alannah Shabalala, Nokuthula Clinical Psychology Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-74). Current research shows that people with intellectual disabilities display psychiatric symptoms which are often similar to those found in the general population. Furthermore, some literature has found that psychiatric difficulties in the intellectually disabled population can manifest in atypical forms which differ from those exhibited in the general population. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in the intellectually disabled population in South Africa. This particular study formed part of a larger project looking at trauma in a sample of intellectually disabled people. The PAS-ADD Checklist, which consists of two sections, was administered to a sample of caregivers of intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse. The data was analysed using non-parametric statistical tests. The first section of the instrument focused on the potentially traumatic life events that were reported by the caregivers and it was found that the group of individuals with a history of sexual assault had experienced more of these in comparison with the control group. The second section consisted of statements which were designed to elicit psychiatric symptoms on three subscales namely, possible organic condition, affective or neurotic disorder and psychotic disorder. The results showed that the total sample had a fairly high overall prevalence rate of psychiatric symptoms. In particular, the group with a History of Sexual Abuse obtained significantly higher scores on the affective/neurotic subscale when compared with the control group. There were also significant differences between the groups on the organic condition with the History of Sexual Abuse Group showing a higher prevalence of symptoms. The groups also differed on the psychotic disorder with the group who had a History of Sexual Abuse obtaining a higher score, although this was not statistically significant. The implications of the findings suggest that people with an intellectual disability who have a History of Sexual Abuse display an increased rate of psychiatric symptoms, particularly on the affective/neurotic spectrum. Whilst the findings generated from this study are in line with much of the international literature around the relationship between potentially traumatic life events and a high prevalence of affective symptoms in the intellectually disabled population, there is still a dearth of research in this area in South Africa. 2015-10-25T17:08:34Z 2015-10-25T17:08:34Z 2010 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14333 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Clinical Psychology
Linden, Alannah
An exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse
thesis_degree_str Master's
title An exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse
title_full An exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse
title_fullStr An exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse
title_full_unstemmed An exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse
title_short An exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse
title_sort exploratory study of psychiatric symptoms in intellectually disabled people with and without a known history of sexual abuse
topic Clinical Psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14333
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