The Effect of a Pilot Group Psycho-education Program on the Death Attitude and Life Perception in the Case of an Adult with Intellectual Disabilities

Often people with intellectual disabilities are protected from exposure to death, dying and end-of-life issues, but this protection leaves the person unprepared for the grieving of unavoidable losses, and unaware of the changes implied by the old age of their caregivers. Considering the person with an intellectual disability as an immature being, lacking the ability to feel complex emotions, contributes to the tendency that both professionals and families have to avoid speaking with them about the difficult topic of death. Our goal is to design and implement a psychoeducational program that approaches the topic of death as a natural stage in life, for adults with intellectual disabilities. The effects that psychoeducation about death had on both death attitude and the perception of life are discussed based on a case presentation of one of the group members.