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Loneliness in people with intellectual and developmental disorders across the lifespan: A systematic review of prevalence and interventions
Author(s) -
Alexandra Petroutsou,
Angela Hassiotis,
Ali Afia
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 1360-2322
DOI - 10.1111/jar.12432
Subject(s) - loneliness , psychological intervention , intellectual disability , systematic review , intervention (counseling) , inclusion (mineral) , clinical psychology , psychology , medicine , medline , gerontology , psychiatry , social psychology , political science , law
Background The aim of the study was to conduct the first systematic review investigating the prevalence of loneliness in people with intellectual developmental disabilities ( IDD ) and the interventions targeting loneliness. Method A search across five databases was conducted (May 2016–June 2016). One reviewer (A. P.) selected the articles for inclusion and assessed their risk of bias using a standardized tool. The second reviewer (A. H.) examined the list of included/excluded articles and the ratings of the studies. Results Five prevalence studies met the inclusion criteria and provided an average loneliness prevalence of 44.74%. Only one intervention study was included, and it demonstrated that there was not any significant group difference for loneliness outcomes ( p = .21). The majority of the studies had a weak quality rating. Conclusion The systematic review evidenced that loneliness is a common experience in people with IDD and there is a need to extend current research.