Teaching Safety Skills to Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities: A Comprehensive Descriptive Analyses

Abstract

Safety skills are vital for all individuals. Literature shows that individuals with intellectual disabilities are 2 or 3 times more exposed to accidents, violence, abuse and neglect than general population. This study aims to evaluate the demographic, methodological characteristics and outcomes of the studies aiming at teaching safety skills to individuals with intellectual disabilities. The revieewed studies are located by conducting searching in the electronic databases, journal indexes and references of studies. A total of 176 studies were found. The researchers reviewed them in terms of inclusion and exclusion criteria and retained 33 of them for descriptive analysis. Each study was coded according to parameters for demographical, methodological and outcomes characteristicsf or descriptive analysis. Analyses showed safety skills can be taught to individuals in different ages and with different levels of intellectual disabilities. Findings are discussed, suggestions for researchers and practitioners are made.