Page 41 - Social networks of people with mild intellectual disabilities: characteristics and interventions

Structural and Functional Characteristics
Frequency of contact
Of the 17 participants with a partner, 12 saw their partner every day. Other
network members were also seen with a high frequency: parents and friends
almost twice a week; siblings, other acquaintances and professionals about
once a week; and colleagues and neighbours some three to four times a week.
There was a significant main effect of network group on the frequency of 2 face-to-face contact, F(2,48) = 5.594, p = .007. Participants saw acquaintances significantly more often than professionals on average, p = .018.
Participants spoke most often on the phone with their parents (three times a week) and their partners and friends (two times a week). They spoke less often but still every other week with siblings. The frequency of telephone contact did not differ significantly for the three groups of network members. The participants most often had internet contact with their friends (1.5 times a week) and less often with professionals (two times a year). There were significant differences between the groups of network members for internet contact, F(1.08, 15.17) = 5.774, p = .027. Post hoc comparisons showed that the participants had nearly significantly (p = .071) more internet contact with acquaintances than with professionals. For more detailed information on the frequency of contacts, see Table 2.
Table 2 Frequency of the contact (times a year)
Face-to-face
Telephone
Internet
Family Partner/children Parents Brothers/Sisters Other Family
Acquaintances Friends
81.61 290.00
98.31 58.55 28.15
116.96 95.88
102.48 109.27 151.72
20.12
58.61 97.41
108.51
40.93 44.24 44.64 0.00 81.83 18.74
13.11 2.02
Colleagues 170.27 Neighbours 211.86 Other acquaintances 63.23
Professionals 65.95
23.67 8.38
31.76 27.70 19.80
52.78 78.04
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