Educational practices to promote social networks of people with intellectual disabilities.
An instrument for its design and evaluation
Abstract
People with intellectual disabilities generally have small social networks, little diversified and with few sources of natural support. Helping them build stronger social networks contributes to their personal well-being and social inclusion, and to enrich society diversity. This article aims to present the process developed to outline and conduct an initial validation of a tool oriented to the design and evaluation of good practices to support the construction of social networks (Quality framework for good practices to support the construction of social networks). In a first phase, a first version of the instrument was designed, based on a bibliographic review. Then, in a second phase, a validation process was implemented with a qualitative approach. Two focus groups were held with people with intellectual disabilities (one in Spain and one in Ireland), and three were conducted with professionals (one in Malta and two in Spain). During these focus groups, the participants expressed their points of view about the structure and composition of the tool. The article describes the validation process developed, its final version and guidelines for its application.
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