People with intellectual disabilities (ID) commonly struggle with managing their affairs, while they consider it important to beindependent. This study aimed to gain insight into the perspectives... Show morePeople with intellectual disabilities (ID) commonly struggle with managing their affairs, while they consider it important to beindependent. This study aimed to gain insight into the perspectives of people with ID, legal representatives, and support staff onpromoting independence in this population. Two focus groups were conducted with people with ID (n= 7), two with legal repre-sentatives (n= 13), and three with support staff (n= 17). Topics included the meaning of independence, the current level andneeds of people with ID regarding their independence, and what they perceived as barriers and requirements when wanting to pro-mote independence in this group. Possible outcomes of a greater independence of people with ID were also discussed. Verbatimtranscripts were analyzed qualitatively with a general inductive approach. According to the respondents, people with ID requiresupport from others, but most want to be more independent. Various barriers are experienced when trying to promote indepen-dence. These concern barriers at the level of support staff (e.g., lack of time), family (e.g., taking over tasks), and of the persons withID themselves (e.g., emotional difficulties). When promoting independence in this population, more support and time seem neces-sary, as well as a clear, step-by-step tailored approach and good communication between all parties involved. Last, several advan-tages (e.g., greater self-worth) and risks (e.g., overestimation by others, greater exposure to hazards) were proposed that couldresult from a greater independence of people with ID. As this study showed that people with ID generally want to become moreindependent. This stresses the need for the development of interventions, which could benefit from thefindings from this study. Show less
BackgroundPeople with intellectual disabilities have increasing difficulties managing their daily affairs. This study examined the effectiveness of a staff training, which teaches staff to promote... Show moreBackgroundPeople with intellectual disabilities have increasing difficulties managing their daily affairs. This study examined the effectiveness of a staff training, which teaches staff to promote self-management in people with intellectual disabilities.MethodEffectiveness was assessed with questionnaires addressing clients' (n=26) independence and self-reliance, support needs and challenging behaviour, using a pre-posttest control group design. Additionally, focus groups were conducted with trained staff members 6months after the training.ResultsIn the long term, the intervention group showed a significant increase in independence and self-reliance, in contrast to the comparison group. No effect was found on support needs and challenging behaviour. Trained staff members reported limited benefits of the training, but had noticed changes in their attitude and method of working afterwards.ConclusionsFurther self-management research is required to investigate how independence and self-reliance can be promoted more effectively in this population. Future trainings should carefully consider their content, format, and implementation. Show less
