Page 65 - Social networks of people with mild intellectual disabilities: characteristics and interventions

Network Characteristics, Satisfaction, Wishes and Quality of Life
professionals to be highly valued by people with mild ID with respect to several functional characteristics (van Asselt-Goverts et al., 2013). The present research adds to these findings by showing the quality of the contact with professionals to be of great importance for the overall well-being of the client with ID. High- quality interpersonal relations between professional and client are part of so- called professional loving care (Hermsen, Embregts, Hendriks, & Frielink, 2014).
With respect to size the number of acquaintances (i.e. friends, colleagues, neighbours and other acquaintances) appears to be of importance for a
person’s satisfaction. For other characteristics, however, the network of family
members seems crucial. For young adults with mild ID, it appears to be essential 3 that relatives live in the same town and provide both emotional and practical
support. Moreover, contrary to the finding of Emerson & Hatton (2008) mentioned in the Introduction, in the present study frequency of face to face contact with family is significantly related to the perceived QOL.
There are some potential limitations to the present study. We collected data on the social networks and QOL from the perspective of the people with mild ID living independently. This was done to shed light on their actual perspectives, but the participants in our study are not necessarily representative of the entire population of people with ID. In QOL research into people with ID, moreover, the question arises of whether they are able to reliably evaluate their own SWB or whether such information is better provided via proxies. Even though the conclusions of comparable studies are contradictory (Cummins, 2002; Nota et al., 2006; Schmidt et al., 2010; Verdugo, Schalock, Keith, & Stancliffe, 2005), the emerging consensus is that people with ID should be asked to give their own views (Roeleveld, Embregts, Hendriks, & van den Bogaard, 2011; Verdugo et al., 2005). Proxies should only be used in place of the subjects themselves as the sole source of information when absolutely necessary because of significant communication limitations (Verdugo et al., 2005). This was not the case in this study. In line with this view, we collected data on how participants perceived their actual network at the time of the interview. Although people with mild ID are regarded as reliable reporters of social support (Lunsky & Benson, 1997), the information may be affected by difficulties in giving an accurate account of the facts, such as difficulty in recalling the frequency of contact with network members. Gathering additional data from proxies is therefore recommended for future studies, particularly when it involves people living in group homes. For people living on their own in the community acquiring additional data
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