Search

Since March 2020, Uganda has confirmed cases of COVID-19 and implemented a response to curb the spread, which included over 12 months of school closure for most children. In this study we investigated parents' perspectives of the impact of the COVID-19 response on education of children with disabilities enrolled in primary schools in Central Uganda during the first 12 months of the outbreak. We conducted four rounds of interviews with 27 parents of children with disabilities, which were analysed thematically. Parents described a lack of financial resources, food, learning materials, and teaching skills necessary to provide meaningful home education. Parents were concerned about the long-term impact school closure may have on their child's development, behaviour, and social life. Although parents were happy about the phased school re-opening, they expressed concerns about the financial costs involved in sending children back to school, and wondered how children would cope with prevention measures. School closure has greatly impacted the education of children with disabilities in Uganda. There is a need to consider inequality, poverty, and culture when studying children with disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak, and prioritise and include this group in designing COVID-19 responses, prolonged home learning and school reopening plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we study the concept of 'belonging' within the context of inclusive education. We see inclusion and belonging as two entangled concepts and focus on inclusion as an ethical process. We do this by analyzing the Flemish documentary Inclusief [Inclusive] to investigate the idea of belonging as building and finding roots. As a method we carry out a close reading of two episodes of the documentary and plug in theory to gain a deeper sense about the meaning of belonging in two students' life stories. In our writing process these fragments become tangible. Through the stories, we see how belonging emerges. We come to understand belonging in inclusive education as connected to the dynamic interplay with the context; listening with care; and radical relationality. By combining these elements schools can invest in becoming inclusive communities of care, and contribute to every student having a feeling of belonging. This paper explores the relation between inclusion in educational contexts and the sense of belonging of disabled students. The authors argue for a system approach to aim for inclusion instead of through case-by-case assessment. Through close reading of two episodes of the Flemish documentary Inclusief, the authors find that belonging is enhanced through the teachers' careful attention to the students' relations with each other. The authors state that creating space to enhance every student's belonging is carried out through listening with care and being open to many connections between the student and others. The interplay with the environment proves very important to stimulate a sense of belonging with every student. The authors argue that caring communities arise through close connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a need for physical activity promotion interventions in adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities. Current interventions have shown limited effectiveness, which may be attributed to the absence of theory and a population-specific development. Combining a planning model (including theory) and cocreation with the target audience during intervention development could potentially address this gap., Objective: This study aimed to report the systematic development of the Move it, Move ID! intervention by describing how the 8 different steps of the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) were applied and present the results that emerged from those steps. In doing so, the (theoretical) content of the intervention is described in detail., Methods: A total of 23 adolescents and young adults (aged 14-22 years) with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities were designated as cocreators of the intervention. Across 2 groups, 6 similar cocreation sessions were organized in each. The content and sequence of the sessions were structured to align with the 8 steps of the BCW. All sessions were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Both a deductive (ie, steps of the BCW) and inductive (ie, resonating the voice of the participants) analysis approach were applied specifically focusing on identifying and describing the findings within each of the BCW steps., Results: After behavioral analysis (steps 1-4), 10 intervention goals were chosen and linked to Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation-Behavior components (theory within the BCW) that needed to be addressed. Psychological capability, social opportunity, and reflective motivation were emphasized as the first targets to focus on. A key finding was the urge for real-life social connectedness and social integration, which makes the social component as part of physical activity a central theme to focus on within intervention development. Judgments on the most suitable intervention functions (step 5) and behavior change techniques (step 7) were explained. When discussing the mode of delivery of the intervention (step 8), it was underscored that solely relying on a mobile health app would not fulfill participants' social needs. Hence, the chosen intervention adopts a dyadic approach in which young individuals with intellectual disabilities are matched with peers without intellectual disabilities to engage in physical activities together, with a mobile app playing a supportive role in this partnership., Conclusions: The transparent description of the development process highlights why certain intervention components and behavior change techniques were chosen and how they are intertwined by means of the selected intervention design. This paper provides a detailed blueprint for practitioners wanting to integrate the BCW and its associated behavior change techniques, in combination with actively involving the target group, into their intervention development for people with intellectual disabilities., (©Laura Maenhout, Julie Latomme, Greet Cardon, Geert Crombez, Geert Van Hove, Sofie Compernolle. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 11.01.2024.)