Mentors' experiences of using the Active Mentoring model to support older adults with intellectual disability to participate in community groups

Abstract

Background Social inclusion is a widely acknowledged goal; who is best positioned to provide support and how support is delivered are key questions. Using Active Mentoring training, members of community groups mentored a person with intellectual disability and supported their inclusion in that group.

Methods Interviews with 14 mentors explored their experiences of supporting a previously unknown person with intellectual disability to participate in their community group.

Findings The core theme was No Different From Us. Mentors saw beyond the disability, they valued others, were community leaders, and had intrinsic qualities. With some basic orientation to the task, mentors were able to support the inclusion of their mentee in the group.

Conclusion Community members are willing to support people with intellectual disability to join their community groups. The Active Mentoring training is one way of harnessing the goodwill of community groups and their members to include people with intellectual disability to participate on an individual basis in community groups.

Keywords:

• intellectual disability
• mentors
• inclusion
• retirement
• Active Mentoring
• active support
• community groups
• community living

Acknowledgements

Funding: This research was supported under the Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects scheme (Project number: LP0989241) and with the assistance of two industry partners. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian Research Council or the industry partners.

Conflicts of interest: No conflicts of interest are declared.

Notes

1 A semicolon between quotations from participants indicates a different mentor; phrases or words in [brackets] have been added by the research team.