Social inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities - lost in translation?: Perspectives from Brasil

Aim: The aim of this pilot study was to map the sociallives of 48 adults with intellectual and developmentaldisabilities (IDD) in Brasília before and after a socialinclusion intervention to facilitate the development oftheir social networks. Method: A two-arm, waiting-listpre-post experimental design was utilised with mixedmethods including the Social Network Guide (SNG)(Forrester-Jones, 2016 adapted to be culturally sensitiveto Brazil) to map the social networks of each individual.A training intervention with staff and family carers andvolunteers was facilitated to develop an acceptablesocial intervention and a semi-structured wasadministered to them regarding their attitudes aroundsocial inclusion and their view concerning the training.Statistical analysis of the SNG data and thematicanalysis of qualitative data were conducted. Results:Cultural sensitivities and translation issues wereencountered. Preliminary baseline social networkresults reveal that adults with IDD in Brasíliaexperience similar limited social lives to the Britishcounterparts in terms of network size, membership,density and social support. Conclusions: Socialinclusion of people with IDD is a world-wide aspirationbut systemic and cultural nuances of particularcountries need to be considered.S