Variations in the social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in supported living schemes and residential settings. .

BackgroundThe social inclusion of tenants living intwo forms of supported living schemes – those clusteredon one site and those dispersed in neighbourhoods– is contrasted with more traditional provisionfound on the island of Ireland, namely, small grouphomes, residential homes and campus-style settings.MethodsA standard pro forma based on measuresused in past research was completed by the keyworkerfor each tenant or resident. In all, data wereobtained on620persons, representing nearly all tenantsin clustered schemes in Northern Ireland andover40% of those in dispersed schemes.ResultsPeople in either form of supported livingtended to have greater levels of social inclusion asmeasured by their use of community amenities andsocial contacts than did those in small group homesor residential homes, with participants from campusstylesettings having the lowest levels of social inclusion.Moreover, multivariate analyses confirmed thatthe accommodation variable was a significant influencein addition to the social competence of theperson.