Page 34 - Social networks of people with mild intellectual disabilities: characteristics and interventions

Chapter 2
perspectives of people with ID themselves. The following research questions will be answered in the present study:
1. How do people with mild ID describe the structural and functional characteristics of their social networks?
2. Do groups of network members (i.e. family, acquaintances and professionals) differ on structural and functional characteristics, according to people with mild ID?
3. Are there differences between the functional characteristics (i.e. affection, connection, preference and practical/informational support) within each group of network members?
2.2 Method
2.2.1 Participants and setting
Clients from seven care organizations, located in the southeast of the Netherlands, participated in this research. Clients met the inclusion criteria if they had (a) a mild to borderline ID; (b) an age between 19 and 36 years; and (c) an independent residence of at least two years in the community (i.e. lived in the community alone, with a partner, friend or children). People who lived in a residential facility were thus excluded from participation in the present research. We started the study with an accidental sample of 38 participants. To obtain a sufficiently large sample, all persons who signed up were approached. One participant could not be reached after signing up; another cancelled the appointment; and another three were not included in the analyses due to incomplete data. We thus had a total of 33 participants and the number of respondents per organization varied from two to seven. Sixteen men and 17 women participated. The average age was 28.88 years. Approximately half of the participants had a partner (n = 17), but not all were living together with the partner. Most of the participants were living alone (n = 23); others were living with their partners (n = 7) and/or with their children (n = 3). Regarding the work situation: 78.79% of the participants were employed or had activities outside the home during the day; the remaining 21.21% were either unemployed, unable to work and/or responsible for housekeeping in the home.
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