Voices of youths on engagement in community life: a theoretical framework of belonging

Abstract

Little is known from the perspectives of youths with intellectual and developmental disabilities themselves about their experiences related to inclusion, engagement in community life and friendship, and their quality of life. The Voices of Youths research project used an inclusive approach to learn from youths about these experiences. Twenty-four youths (age 13–24 years) with a range of intellectual and developmental disabilities diagnostic ‘labels’ participated in three video-recorded, community-based interviews. Constructivist grounded theory data analysis revealed a theoretical framework comprising the core concept of belonging and four associated concepts: engaging with similar people, having social relationships, negotiating meaningful roles, and navigating norms and expectations – finding a good fit. The findings contribute new knowledge about the ways in which these youths experience a sense of belonging from their own perspectives and can inform development/enrichment of policies, programmes, and services for these youths.

Keywords:

• Intellectual/developmental disability
• belonging
• community
• inclusive research
• grounded theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the study participants.

Notes

1 We have chosen the terminology ‘youths with intellectual and developmental disabilities’ because this is how the youths on our research team and our study participants self-identified. Throughout the article, ‘youths’ is used to refer to youths with intellectual and developmental disabilities. References to other youths will be specific (e.g. non-disabled youths).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.