(see Poster Gallery) Exploring the Factors Associated with Patterns of Social Participation Among Developmental Disabilities in South Korea

Background/Purpose: Although social participation has been an important key concept in research and clinical services, there is still no agreement on what social participation is. Recently, social participation is recognized as an indicator of health, well-being, and positive social behaviors. However, when using the concept of social participation, the type of disability is still not considered. For adults with developmental disabilities (DD), social participation is seen as an important condition for persons with DD’s successful transition to adulthood, as persons with DD develop social skills and alleviate feelings of isolation, and improve well-being while interacting with other people. Thus, this study aims to identify (1) different social participation patterns of persons with DD based on various indicators and (2) examine what characteristics are associated with the identified social participation classes of persons with DD.

Methods: This study used Work and Life of persons with developmental disabilities data created by the Korea Employment Agency for the disabled (2020). The final analysis sample included 2,622 persons with developmental disabilities over 15 years old. Their guardians were asked to answer the questionnaire. First, Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to classify the social participation class of persons with DD, including 14 indicators: autonomy of daily life (ADL and IADL), culture and art viewing, hobbies, domestic travel, watching and participating in sports events, participation in club activities, religious activities, volunteer activities, economic activities, and voting, the exercise of self-determination, preference for external activities, presence of friends. Second, multinomial logistic regression was performed to examine the relationships between the identified social participation classes and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, education level, smartphone usage ability, co-existing disability, degree of disability, subjective health status, depression, obesity, family support for employment, daily life discrimination experience).

Results: As a result of LCA, the social participation of persons with DD was classified into three classes: active involvement (Class1; 30.1%), passive involvement (Class2; 40.1%), and social exclusion (Class 3; 29.8%). The active involvement class had no discomfort in daily life and exceptionally higher participation rates in most social activities. The passive involvement class had no discomfort in daily life but rarely engaged in various social activities. The social exclusion class had a very uncomfortable daily life and the lowest participation rate in each social activity area. Logistic regression found that the active involvement class was more likely to be younger, educated, obese, have extraordinary smartphone usage ability, have better subjective health, and have higher family support for employment than the passive involvement class and social exclusion class.

Conclusions and Implication: This study highlights that individualized programs are required for people with DD to encourage their social activities. The policy direction should be differentiated by the life cycle and consider family relationships, human capital, and health care quality to promote the social participation of people with DD.