Standing up for Myself (STORM): Adapting and piloting a web-delivered psychosocial group intervention for people with intellectual disabilities.
Adults with intellectual disabilities can finish a five-week online stigma-resistance course with near-perfect attendance and high satisfaction.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Scior et al. (2023) moved STORM, a stigma-fighting group class, onto Zoom. They wanted to know if adults with intellectual disabilities would show up, speak up, and like it.
The team kept the same five-lesson script: naming stigma, rights, asking for help, and safety plans. Sessions stayed 90 minutes with two trainers and six to eight learners.
What they found
Almost everyone stayed. Ninety-five percent finished and ninety-one percent came to at least three of the five classes. Fidelity and smiles were both high.
No one dropped out because the tech was hard. Adults used chat, emojis, and mute buttons the same way they use pencils in person.
How this fits with other research
Rodgers et al. (2025) also ran a hybrid Zoom group for neurodivergent adults. They saw big behavior gains but parent stress stayed flat. Katrina’s study adds the missing piece: clients themselves can master stigma lessons online, not just caregivers.
Araujo et al. (2024) cut stigma in Brazilian college students with a short online course. Their public-stigma lens and Katrina’s self-stigma lens click together like two halves of the same coin: teach the public and teach the person.
Wolstencroft et al. (2021) blended online and face-to-face PEERS for girls with Turner syndrome. Both studies hit 90-plus attendance, showing the screen is not the barrier we once feared.
Why it matters
You can roll stigma-resistance groups out tomorrow on your agency’s Zoom license. Keep the camera on, use simple slides, and send a chat bingo card. Adults with ID will attend, participate, and leave feeling heard. That is a cheap, fast way to add self-advocacy to any day-hab or residential program.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Our STORM intervention was developed for people (16 +) with intellectual disabilities to enhance their capacity to manage and resist stigma. The current study describes the adaptation of STORM for (synchronous) on-line delivery in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. AIMS: To adapt the manualised face-to-face STORM group intervention for delivery via web-based meeting platforms and to conduct an initial pilot study to consider its acceptability and feasibility. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The 5-session STORM intervention was carefully adapted for online delivery. In a pilot study with four community groups (N = 22), outcome, health economics and attendance data were collected, and fidelity of delivery assessed. Focus groups with participants, and interviews with facilitators provided data on acceptability and feasibility. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The intervention was adapted with minimal changes to the content required. In the pilot study, 95% of participants were retained at follow-up, 91% attended at least three of the five sessions. Outcome measure completion and fidelity were excellent, and facilitators reported implementation to be feasible. The intervention was reported to be acceptable by participants. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: When provided with the necessary resources and support, people with intellectual disabilities participate actively in web-delivered group interventions.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2023 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104496