Programmes to change attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review

Abstract

Despite advances in the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in society, there are still negative attitudes toward them. For this reason, it is considered necessary to carry out interventions aimed at changing attitudes toward this group and the characteristics of such interventions should be analysed. To this end, a review of the scientific literature was carried out, consulting Web Of Science (WOS), Psycinfo, Scielo and Scopus, identifying 31 articles that met the selection criteria and were analysed. The analysis of the results of the interventions confirms that, in general, the programmes have been effective in changing attitudes. However, there is a lack of unanimity in the design and type of interventions, as well as in the measurement instruments used to measure their efficacy. The present review confirms the need to design and implement specific interventions to bring about a change in attitudes and thus avoid the maintenance of negative attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities.