Personal social networks of people with Down syndrome.
Am J Med Genet A
; 191(3): 690-698, 2023 03.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36437642
ABSTRACT
Studies in the neurotypical population have demonstrated that personal social networks can mitigate cognitive decline and the development of Alzheimer disease. To assess whether these benefits can also be extended to people with Down syndrome (DS), we studied whether and how personal networks can be measured in this population. We adapted a personal networks instrument previously created, validated, and implemented for the neurotypical population. We created two versions of the survey one for participants with DS, ages 25 and older, and another for their study partners, who spent a minimum of 10 h/wk in a caregiver role. Participants with DS gave concordant data to those of study partners. Their personal networks included a median network size of 7.50, density 0.80, constraint 46.00, and effective size 3.07. Personal networks were composed of 50% kin, 80% who live within 15 miles, and 80% who eat a healthy diet. In this proof-of-principle study, we demonstrated that the personal networks of people with DS can be quantitatively analyzed, with no statistical difference between self-report and parent-proxy report. Future research efforts can now evaluate interventions to enhance personal networks for preventing Alzheimer disease in this population.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Síndrome de Down
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Doença de Alzheimer
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Disfunção Cognitiva
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article