Measuring emotional support in family networks: Adapting the Family Network Method for individuals with a mild intellectual disability

BACKGROUND: Informal supportive networks of individuals with intellectual disability have become increasingly important. The aim of this paper is to describe how the Family Network Method – Intellectual Disability (FNM‐ID) offers a way to gather the perspective of people with mild intellectual disability on their family support. METHOD: The FNM is designed to explore how individuals define their family contexts, and more specifically how they perceive existing supportive relationships in these contexts. RESULTS: By carefully piloting ways of questioning people with mild intellectual disability, systematic adaptations were made to the original FNM. Data obtained by the FNM‐ID can be analysed using social network analysis. Thereby, the FNM‐ID provides rich, theoretically significant information on emotional support in the family networks of individuals with mild intellectual disability. CONCLUSIONS: The FNM‐ID is a useful and successfully adapted tool for other researchers and professionals to systematically explore the family support experiences of individuals with mild intellectual disability.