Survey on treatment of specific phobias among young people with learning disabilities

LDHealthNetwork · June 25, 2021, 10:24am

We are a research team based at the University of Warwick and we are conducting a study on treatment of specific phobias in children and young people with moderate to severe learning disabilities. We would be very grateful if you forward the information below to parents in your network that might be interested in taking part in our survey.

Dear Parents,

We are writing to invite you to participate in our survey about children and young people with moderate to severe learning disabilities and specific phobias. Specific phobia is an extreme fear of a specific object, animal or situation which is so overwhelming that it interferes with everyday life. For instance, somebody with a needle phobia might be too frightened to have a routine blood test or vaccination and become extremely anxious or distressed in the presence (or sometimes even mention) of a needle. Some other examples include phobia of dogs, heights, small spaces and dentist. We want to find out what treatments are routinely offered to children and young people with moderate to severe learning disabilities and a specific phobia.

If you are the parent of a child or young person (aged 5 to 15 years) with moderate to severe learning disabilities, who has a specific phobia and you live in the UK, then we would like to invite you to complete our online survey.

The survey should take you between 10 and 45 minutes. In the survey we will ask you about support and treatment that was offered to your child for their specific phobia. If your child was NOT offered any treatments or support for their specific phobias, we would still like you to complete the survey and tell us about this.

The survey is part of a larger study about the treatment for specific phobias for children and young people with moderate to severe learning disabilities. The information from the survey will help us to understand what support and treatments are routinely offered to children and young people with learning disabilities and phobias.

The project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research.

If you are interested in taking part in the survey you can click on the link below.

http://warwick.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_56xFTPSDdAwSlSe

If you would prefer to do the survey as an interview over the phone or online, please email us at SPIRIT@warwick.ac.uk and we will arrange it.

If you would like more information, please contact the study team at SPIRIT@warwick.ac.uk or visit our website: SPIRIT

Kind Regards,

Professor Kylie Gray (Chief Investigator)

Magda Apanasionok (Study Manager)

Malwina Filipczuk