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Staff members of community-based residential programs serving individuals with intellectual disabilities often have difficulty helping participants develop social relationships with community members. A "social guide model" taught staff of an apartment-based residential program to use a set of "community network strategies" to improve the social relationships of three women with disabilities. Results demonstrated a functional relationship between staff members' use of the strategies under the supervision of the social guide model and increases in the size of participants' social networks and the frequency with which they experienced social integration. The intervention also was associated with a higher weekly rate of introduction of new network members and a higher rate of socially integrated activities per network member per week. Gains generally were maintained during a follow-up period, with a regular staff member assuming the role of social guide.

Social life can be diminished by barriers inadvertently associated with "support." Social barriers were identified for three adults with severe intellectual disabilities. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to examine the effects of removing these barriers on the social life of each participant. The dependent variables in the study were (a) the number of social activities done per week, (b) the number of different people with whom social activities were done each week, and (c) the stability of social relationships across time as indexed by the number of different weeks in which activities occurred with a companion across the 27 weeks of the study. The independent variable was a seven-component "barrier reduction" package. Support staff were taught to use each component of the package, and pre-post measurement of package use was obtained. Results indicate that the staff successfully implemented the barrier reduction package, and that implementation was associated with change in the social life of each participant. The study raises implications for (a) assessing structural barriers, (b) modifying structural barriers, and (c) measurement of "social stability" as an important index of social life for future research.

The activity preferences of 15 adults with intellectual disabilities from eight community-based residential programs were assessed by the participants themselves, residential program staff, and advocates. The study provides descriptive information concerning the degree to which participants' perceived activity preferences were subsequently included in their Individualized Habilitation Plans (IHPs). Results indicate that 78% of participants' IHP objectives were preferred activities. Further analyses revealed that preferred activities requiring a greater degree of staff support were included on the IHP as training objectives, and preferred activities that participants performed infrequently were included as participation objectives. The study indicates a need for more information about how to assess and honor the preferences of people with severe disabilities.

This article reports information on the interrelations among measures of lifestyle quality for 20 adults with severe disabilities living in the community. Using two interview-based measures, data were collected on the social networks and activity patterns of the participants. The results indicate that the overall size of the social networks and the number of family members were highly associated with a greater frequency and variety of activities across home and community settings. The results also indicate that neither the number of social network members paid to provide support, nor the number of friends were significantly related to activity patterns. Finally, implications for measuring lifestyle quality and the use of outcome-based measures for assisting people to build and maintain social relationships are presented.

Social integration and social support are critical elements in determining a person's quality of life. To date, however, very little descriptive information is available on patterns of social contact between persons with severe disabilities and typical members of local communities. This report presents information on the social interaction patterns of 23 adults with severe disabilities across a 2 1/2-year time period. The staff in small, community-based residential programs collected continuous counts of the activities performed by residents and the people (companions) with whom activities were performed. Only those contacts that occurred with people other than people paid to provide support or other residents in the program were counted. The results indicate great variability in the social contact patterns across the 23 people observed, but that on the average they had contact with 63.5 different companions across the 30 months of observation. Social contacts occurred on the average of once every 2 days, and the durability of social contacts indicated that companions seldom continued the relationship beyond a 12-month period, except for family members or someone perceived as a "best friend." Examination of the final year of observation indicates that the 23 people met about 17 new individuals across the 12-month period. The report offers implications of these results for further research on social contacts and the development of support strategies for building and maintaining social relationships.

Outcome measures that document activity patterns provide an empirical basis for improving the lifestyles of adults with severe disabilities. This report provides a psychometric assessment of an instrument, the Resident Lifestyle Inventory (RLI), that can be used to measure the activities performed by such persons. In a series of three assessments the congruent validity (Assessment 1), test-retest reliability (Assessment 2), and social validity (Assessment 3) of the RLI were analyzed to determine its acceptability as a measurement instrument for documenting activity patterns. Results from the three assessments demonstrated that the RLI is a psychometrically acceptable measure that is used accurately by residential programs. It is perceived by support staff to be a useful strategy for improving lifestyle quality. Implications of this report are provided for the role of outcome measures in community-based residential support, the individualized plan development process, and future research.