Experts Discussing “Alertness in Individuals with PIMD”: A Concept Mapping Procedure

The alertness of individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities is a recurring issue for both researchers and direct support persons. A literature review reveals that alertness is an ambiguous concept, and information about environmental conditions that may have an impact on alertness is lacking. However, joint agreement about the concept is important for researchers and DSPs. To generate an expert discussion we employed the method of Concept Mapping. Two Concept Maps were developed based on the following two questions: How can we describe alertness for individuals in the target group? What are the environmental conditions that can have an impact on alertness? The first map shows that descriptions should include a behavioral and an internal aspect of alertness. According to the second map, environmental conditions can be classified into four clusters: 1) interaction, 2) stimulation and activities, 3) communication, and 4) a cluster that emphasizes the importance of taking individual differences into account.