Acton, DanielJaydeokar, SujeetTaylor, RuthJones, Steven2024-06-102024-06-102024-05-30Acton, D., Jaydeokar, S., Taylor, R., & Jones, S. (2024). Exploring the lived experiences and care challenges of formal paid caregivers for people with intellectual disability and dementia. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, vol(isue), pages. https://doi.org/10.1177/174462952412590761744-629510.1177/17446295241259076http://hdl.handle.net/10034/628739This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a published work that appeared in final form in [Journal of Intellectual Disabilities]. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1177/17446295241259076A greater number of people with intellectual disability are living into older age and are at increased risk of developing conditions such as dementia. Caring for a person with dementia presents several challenges for formal caregivers due to the progressive nature of the disease. An interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to understand the lived experiences of a purposive sample of formal caregivers in caring for people with intellectual disability and dementia. Discussions from 14 individual interviews generated data were analysed. Four key super-ordinate themes emerged which were: (1) recognising early indicators and diagnosis, (2) post diagnostic support, (3) coping with change and (4) need for future development. Themes reflected the experiences, barriers to dementia diagnosis and provide a valuable insight into the challenges faced by formal caregivers in providing aged care services.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Aged careAlzheimer’s diseaseDementiaLearning DisabilityArticle1744-6309Journal of Intellectual Disabilities2024-06-09