How do people with intellectual disabilities understand friendship? A systematic meta-synthesis.

BACKGROUND

Previous systematic reviews of the relationships of people with intellectual disabilities have included consideration of intimate relationships. In this paper, we report a systematic review of papers describing friendship only.

METHOD: A systematic qualitative meta-synthesis of the research exploring experiences of friendship as reported by people with intellectual disabilities.

RESULTS

Seven papers met the inclusion criteria for analysis. Three superordinate themes were identified. (1) Reciprocity, 'Someone who helps me, and I help them'. (2) The building blocks of friendships, 'I can tell her some secrets'. (3) Managing friendship difficulties, 'In real life it's much harder'.

CONCLUSION

People with intellectual disabilities value friendship and actively engage in reciprocal exchanges. We explore the strengths and limitations of current research, clinical implications, and directions for future research.