Voices of children with intellectual disabilities on participation in daily activities.

BACKGROUND: Participation in daily activities is expressed as a human right. Full participation of children with disabilities in daily activities creates optimal opportunities for learning and development. Previous studies have focused primarily on proxy ratings of participation of children with intellectual disabilities in daily activities. However, little is known about how the children rate barriers and facilitators to their participation in everyday activities. OBJECTIVES: To identify barriers to and facilitators for everyday activities as experienced by children with intellectual disabilities from low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries. The research questions were as follows: 'what barriers to participation do children with disabilities experience in everyday activities?' and 'what facilitators to participation do children with disabilities experience in everyday activities?' METHOD: A qualitative content analyses was used in this study, and individual interviews were conducted with 49 children with intellectual disabilities. The interviews were performed using pictures. The children also selected the most important activities and described in their own words the facilitators and barriers relevant to being able to perform the activities. RESULTS: The most important activities were organised leisure activities, formal learning at school, taking care of other family members and family mealtimes. Self-reported barriers identified were personal functioning, social exclusion and lack of resources. The identified facilitators included satisfaction, personal capability, being included and having access to resources. CONCLUSION: These findings provide important knowledge about the factors to consider in the development of interventions, aimed at improving the participation of children with intellectual disabilities.

Barriers and facilitators to participation for children and adolescents with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries - A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Research has shown that all children and adolescents have the right to participate in their everyday life. However, little is known about what impacts the participation of children and adolescents with disabilities living in low-and middle-income countries. OBJECTIVE: The present study undertakes a scoping review of research to synthesise the current literature about barriers and facilitators to participation in everyday life for children and adolescents with disabilities living in low- and middle-income countries. METHOD: A scoping review was conducted. The databases Psyc INFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Pubmed, ERIC and African Wide information were searched for studies published between 2001 and April 2018. Data was analysed using deductive content analysis. The barriers and facilitators to participation were categorised into personal factors, social factors, environmental factors, and policy and programme factors. RESULT: In the end, 17 articles were included for data extraction as they mentioned barriers and facilitators to participation for children and adolescents with disabilities. Most of the reviewed studies reported on barriers to participation. Only one of the studies was performed in a country classified as a low-income country; all other studies were performed in middle-income countries. The results indicate that some factors, especially social factors, could be perceived as both facilitators and barriers to participation. CONCLUSION: There is a lack of studies describing barriers and facilitators in low- and middle- income countries. Barriers and facilitators in proximity to the child and family are most frequently described in the literature.