Page 20 - Social networks of people with mild intellectual disabilities: characteristics and interventions

Chapter 1
with ID feel lonely more often (Sheppard-Jones, 2003; Valås, 1999) with up to half of them reporting feelings of loneliness (Amado, Stancliffe, McCarron, & McCallion, 2013; Gilmore & Cuskelly, 2014; McCarron et al., 2011; Stancliffe et al., 2007).
Support staff can play an important role in the facilitation of social inclusion (Abbott & McConkey, 2006; Todd, 2000; van Alphen et al., 2009). If social networks are small and social support is perceived as insufficient, support staff can undertake network interventions to enhance social networks. Various network interventions are described in the general literature on social networks (Heaney & Israel, 2008) and, more specifically, in the field of mental health care (Biegel, Tracy, & Corvo, 1994; Pinto, 2006). In all cases, a distinction between expanding the social network with new contacts and strengthening existing ties is made (Biegel et al., 1994; Pinto, 2006).
However, research shows that staff members pay greater attention to care tasks than to social inclusion tasks (McConkey & Collins, 2010). Research on the experiences of support staff with network interventions and their effect for people with ID is scarce. Howarth, Morris, Newlin and Webber (2014) conducted a systematic review of this subject and could only include 11 studies. In six of these studies positive outcomes were found for the social participation of the person. Person-Centered Planning (PCP) (Robertson et al. 2006), alteration of activity patterns (Ouelette, Horner, & Newton, 1994) and semi-structured group programs including exercises for improving social skills (McConnell, Dalziel, Llewellyn, Laidlaw, & Hindmarsh, 2009; McGaw, Ball, & Clark, 2002; Ward, Windsor, & Atkinson, 2012) appear to be the most effective interventions (Howarth et al., 2014).
1.6 Present thesis: aims, research questions and outline
In summary, in policy and practice there is increased attention on and recognition of the importance of social inclusion, participation and social networks. However, people with mild to borderline ID increasingly apply for professional support, partly due to the lack of adequate networks (Woittiez et al., 2014). Therefore, this thesis focuses on the networks of people with mild to borderline ID. For the sake of readability we use ‘mild ID’, by which we
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