IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i20p7370-d425386.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Communication Support Needs in Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Its Relation to Quality of Life

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Carlos García

    (Fundación Grupo AMÁS Social, 28914 Madrid, Spain)

  • Emiliano Díez

    (Institute for Community Inclusion (INICO), University of Salamanca, 37005 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Dominika Z. Wojcik

    (Institute for Community Inclusion (INICO), University of Salamanca, 37005 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Mónica Santamaría

    (Institute for Community Inclusion (INICO), University of Salamanca, 37005 Salamanca, Spain
    Faculty of Education, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, 37002 Salamanca, Spain)

Abstract

Research suggests that individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) experience difficulties in communication, ranging from intelligibility issues to more severe problems in the use and comprehension of spoken, written or sign language. Despite the negative effects that the inability to communicate have on quality of life (QoL), not much research has explored the relationship between communicative competence and QoL in the adult population with ID. The aim of this study was to describe the global communication profile of a sample of 281 adults with ID recruited from Grupo AMÁS Social Foundation, who differed in their level of communication support needs (CSN). The relationships between communicative competence and CSN with QoL were further examined. The results showed lower QoL indices for those participants characterized by their limited use of discourse and inability to exhibit certain communicative purposes, with the largest differences in the dimensions of self-determination, social inclusion, interpersonal relationships, emotional wellbeing and personal development. Overall, low levels of QoL were found for all participants, with even lower scores for the group identified as having CSN. A multiple regression model revealed that having speech/discourse competence is a powerful predictor of QoL, along with the level of disability and having the communicative competences to express likes and preferences or to establish new relationships. This clear relationship between communication and QoL is an important argument for disability support services when it comes to setting communication supports as a priority and as an important preventive step towards the protection of those at risk of exclusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Carlos García & Emiliano Díez & Dominika Z. Wojcik & Mónica Santamaría, 2020. "Communication Support Needs in Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Its Relation to Quality of Life," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:20:p:7370-:d:425386
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7370/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7370/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Friedrich, Sarah & Pauly, Markus, 2018. "MATS: Inference for potentially singular and heteroscedastic MANOVA," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 166-179.
    2. Nele Van Hecke & Claudia Claes & Wouter Vanderplasschen & Jessica De Maeyer & Nico De Witte & Stijn Vandevelde, 2018. "Conceptualisation and Measurement of Quality of Life Based on Schalock and Verdugo’s Model: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of the Literature," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 335-351, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Johanna Eisinger & Magdalena Dall & Jason Fogler & Daniel Holzinger & Johannes Fellinger, 2022. "Intellectual Disability Profiles, Quality of Life and Maladaptive Behavior in Deaf Adults: An Exploratory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-11, August.
    2. María-Teresa del-Olmo-Ibáñez & María-Fernanda Medina-Beltrán & José Rovira-Collado, 2023. "Perception of Future Spanish Primary Education Teachers on Their Multicultural and Multilingual Competencies and the Sustainability of the Educational System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-12, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Welz, Thilo & Viechtbauer, Wolfgang & Pauly, Markus, 2023. "Cluster-robust estimators for multivariate mixed-effects meta-regression," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    2. Lore Van Damme & Wouter Vanderplasschen & Clare-Ann Fortune & Stijn Vandevelde & Olivier F. Colins, 2021. "Determinants of Female Adolescents’ Quality of Life Before, during and after Detention: a Four-Wave Follow-Up Study Examining a Theory of Individual Quality of Life," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 401-434, February.
    3. Lieve J. Hoeyberghs & Jos M. G. A. Schols & Dominique Verté & Nico Witte, 2020. "Psychological Frailty and Quality of Life of Community Dwelling Older People: a Qualitative Study," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(5), pages 1395-1412, November.
    4. Víctor M. Giménez-Bertomeu & Yolanda Domenech-López & Miguel A. Mateo-Pérez & Nicolás de-Alfonseti-Hartmann, 2019. "Empirical Evidence for Professional Practice and Public Policies: An Exploratory Study on Social Exclusion in Users of Primary Care Social Services in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-15, November.
    5. Zimmermann, Georg & Pauly, Markus & Bathke, Arne C., 2020. "Multivariate analysis of covariance with potentially singular covariance matrices and non-normal responses," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    6. Chris Swerts & Laura E. Gómez & Jessica Maeyer & Goedele Nil & Wouter Vanderplasschen, 2022. "Development of the Quality of Life in Youth Services Scale (QOLYSS): Content-Related Validity Evidence Based on Adolescents’ and Expert Reviewers’ Perspectives," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 593-612, April.
    7. Dennis Dobler & Sarah Friedrich & Markus Pauly, 2020. "Nonparametric MANOVA in meaningful effects," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 72(4), pages 997-1022, August.
    8. Chris Swerts & Laura E. Gómez & Margo Dewitte & Jessica Maeyer & Wouter Vanderplasschen, 2023. "Quality of Life Outcomes for Adolescents in Youth Care," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 1987-2011, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:20:p:7370-:d:425386. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.