Page 31 - Social networks of people with mild intellectual disabilities: characteristics and interventions

Structural and Functional Characteristics
2.1 Introduction
In models of disabilities – for example, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) by the World Health Organization
(WHO, 2001) and the model of intellectual disabilities (ID) by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Luckasson et al., 2 2002), a shift from an intrapersonal approach to a social ecological approach is
visible (Verdonschot, de Witte, Reichrath, Buntinx, & Curfs, 2009). Community participation is considered an essential dimension of human functioning (Verdonschot et al., 2009) and social inclusion an important aspect of the individual’s quality of life (Buntinx & Schalock, 2010). Being part of a social network of friends, family and people in the community is one of the main characteristics of successful social inclusion (Abbott & McConkey, 2006; McConkey & Collins, 2010). And worldwide, the aforementioned shift has been translated into local and national policy leading to more and more people with ID living and working in the community.
Studies focussing on social networks of people with ID have examined the size, composition and amount of perceived support. This has been done using various methods: the Social Network Guide (Forrester-Jones et al., 2006), the Social Network Map (Robertson et al., 2001; Tracy & Abell, 1994) and the Social Support Self Report (Lippold & Burns, 2009; Lunsky & Benson, 1997). And while the social networks are mapped differently, the distinction of family, friends and professionals is consistently made. The social networks of people with ID can be analyzed in terms of structural and functional characteristics. Among the structural characteristics are the size of the network and frequency of interactions with network members while the functional characteristics are often divided into practical and emotional support (Lunsky, 2006).
With respect to the structural characteristics of the social networks of people with ID, not only differences between specific target groups have been investigated (Lippold & Burns, 2009; Widmer, Kempf-Constantin, Robert-Tissot, Lanzi, & Galli Carminati, 2008) but also the associations of the social networks with such other variables as the characteristics of the respondents themselves (Dagnan & Ruddick, 1997) and the type of living situation (Forrester-Jones et al., 2006; McConkey, 2007; Robertson et al., 2001). Age and previous living accommodation are associated with variation in size and composition of social networks (Robertson et al., 2001). Dusseljee, Rijken, Cardol, Curfs, and
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