Breaking bad news to people with learning disabilities: barriers and tools

Abstract

Breaking bad news is a challenging aspect of healthcare professionals' role in any setting. In learning disability settings, specific challenges compound the difficulty of the task. For example, a person who has cognitive difficulties may not understand an abstract concept such as death; the person's family may be concerned that hearing bad news will be too distressing for them; or the healthcare professional may be reluctant to talk about death because of their own beliefs and values. This article discusses the barriers related to breaking bad news to people with learning disabilities. It also describes several tools - generic and specific to the learning disability field - which healthcare professionals can use to inform and improve their practice in this area.