Page 47 - Social networks of people with mild intellectual disabilities: characteristics and interventions

Structural and Functional Characteristics
thus appears that the adapted form of the MSNA used here can also be used
for diagnostic purposes with people with mild ID. A third possible limitation
on the present study is that the status of the members of a social network
as also having an ID should be interpreted with caution. This information is
based on the participant’s knowledge/perceptions but it is uncertain whether
such a question can be accurately answered by this target group or whether 2 the participants can adequately judge the intellectual level of other network
members. We tried to determine the educational levels of network members, but the participants in our study could not answer this question for 61.89% of family relationships and 65.14% of acquaintances. Several other studies have nevertheless shown the social networks of people with ID to typically include very little contact with people who do not have ID (i.e. contact with only families and caregivers who do not have ID) (Dusseljee et al., 2011; Lippold & Burns, 2009; Verdonschot et al., 2009).
In future research, attention should also be paid to the social networks of individuals with moderate and severe ID as these people are rarely considered in the participation literature (Verdonschot et al., 2009). Reciprocity is also recommended as a topic for future research. In the present research, we examined the reciprocity of the initiation of contact, but the reciprocity of support should also be considered in the future as reciprocity is a key factor for the maintenance of supportive relationships over time (Biegel, Tracy, & Corvo, 1994; Ferlander, 2007; Lunsky, 2006). Furthermore, the individual’s satisfaction and wishes with respect to the social network should be explored in future research. With this information, interventions can be tailored to not only the strengths and weaknesses of an individual’s social network but also to the actual opinions and desires of the individual with a mild ID. Finally, future research should include matched norm groups for comparison purposes (i.e. groups matched according to age and sex but without ID). Do the scores of people without ID actually differ from the scores of people with ID for the various structural and functional characteristics of their social networks? And if so, how do they differ? Comparison with a norm group can also facilitate the interpretation of the data found in the present study and other studies on the social networks of people with ID by providing information on the average size and composition of the social network, frequency of contact with network members, nature of the initiation of contact within the network and functional characteristics of the social network.
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