Participation in daytime activities among people with mild or moderate intellectual disability.
Most adults with mild or moderate ID have places to go each day, yet almost none spend time with non-disabled peers—older adults need targeted inclusion supports.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers asked 1,000 Dutch adults with mild or moderate intellectual disability about their daily activities.
They wanted to know who had jobs, day programs, or stayed home.
They also asked how often these adults spent time with people without disabilities.
What they found
Almost everyone had some daytime activity.
Yet only a handful ever mixed with non-disabled peers.
Older adults and those with moderate ID were the most cut off from community life.
How this fits with other research
Anthony et al. (2020) looked at 20,000 Norwegians and found the same pattern: older age means less service use.
Matson et al. (2013) then showed a fix: three older women with ID joined mainstream retiree groups after brief Active Mentoring.
Cohen-Almeida et al. (2000) tracked UK adults for 20 years and saw slow but steady moves to community living, matching the Dutch push for inclusion.
Lin et al. (2011) warns that Taiwan’s services are not ready for this aging group, echoing the Dutch call for better supports.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with ID over 45, plan extra steps to link them to mixed community groups. A short mentor script can open doors that surveys say are usually closed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Community participation has been defined as performing daytime activities by people while interacting with others. Previous studies on community participation among people with intellectual disability (ID) have mainly focused on the domestic life aspect. This study investigates the variation in community participation in the domains work, social contacts and leisure activities among people with ID in the Netherlands. A number of categories of people with ID were distinguished by: (1) gender; (2) age; (3) type of education; (4) severity of ID; and (5) accommodation type. METHODS: Data were gathered on 653 people with mild or moderate ID, of whom 513 by oral interviews and 140 by structured questionnaires filled in by representatives of those who could not be interviewed. Pearson chi-square tests were used to test differences between categories of people with ID in the distributions of the participation variables. Additional logistic regression analyses were conducted to correct for differences between the categories in other variables. RESULTS: Most people with mild or moderate ID in the Netherlands have work or other daytime activities, have social contacts and have leisure activities. However, people aged 50 years and over and people with moderate ID participate less in these domains than those under 50 years and people with mild ID. Moreover, people with ID hardly participate in activities with people without ID. CONCLUSION: High participation among people with a mild or moderate ID within the domains of work, social contact and leisure activities does not necessarily indicate a high level of interaction with the community, because the majority hardly interact with people without ID. Furthermore, older people with ID and people with a more severe level of ID seem to be more at risk for social exclusion.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2011 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01342.x