Andrés Aparicio

Background: Social cognition (SC) involves mental processes underlying interactions. Children and adolescents with Down syndrome face sociocognitive challenges affecting relationships and well‐being. This review systematically examines research on SC development in persons with Down syndrome. Method: Following PRISMA‐ScR guidelines, we systematically searched WoS and Scopus for peer‐reviewed studies on SC in individuals with Down syndrome (0–19 years). Forty studies (2008–2024) met the criteria and were analysed and assessed for quality using the MMAT tool. Results: Evidence does not clearly indicate age‐related SC development in Down syndrome. Instead, language is the key factor influencing SC development. Individuals with Down syndrome show challenges in SC and emotion processing, specifically compared to typical development. Conclusion: More research is needed, especially longitudinal and developmental trajectory studies, to clarify SC development in Down syndrome and its relation to age. These findings can guide educational and clinical strategies to improve social inclusion and well‐being.

Background: Behaviours that challenge are highly prevalent in children and adolescents with intellectual disability, impacting both their well‐being and that of their families. Understanding the role of parenting attitudes and socio‐demographic factors in these behaviours is crucial for effective support. Methods: A quantitative, cross‐sectional, non‐experimental study was conducted with 193 mothers of children and adolescents aged 7 to 17 years with intellectual disability in Chile. Validated instruments were used to assess parenting attitudes, behaviours that challenge, adaptive functioning, and socio‐demographic variables. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed. Findings: Parenting attitudes—particularly related to discipline and communication—were associated with higher levels of behaviours that challenge. Greater perceived fairness in parenting roles was linked to fewer internalising behaviours. Boys exhibited more internalising behaviours than girls, while externalising behaviours decreased with age. Additionally, higher levels of support needs in children predicted increased behaviours that challenge. Conclusion: The findings underscore the importance of parenting attitudes in understanding behaviours that challenge in children with intellectual disability. Interventions should consider these attitudes and aim to strengthen family support systems.

Background: The dynamic, reciprocal, and bidirectional relationships in encounters between infants and their caregivers are called early interactions. Evidence shows that these interactions influence cognitive, emotional, and social development beyond the early years. While some studies have examined these interactions in dyads with infants with Down syndrome, they have mostly focused on parents in small samples. This study explores these interactions by considering parental, infant, and interaction variables.Methods: A total of 128 dyads participated, with 64 infants with Down syndrome and 64 typically developing infants, matched one‐by‐one by developmental age. During home visits, socio‐demographic and developmental information was collected, development and dyadic interactions were assessed using standardised instruments. Descriptive analyses, MANOVAs, and ANOVAs were conducted comparing the group of dyads that included infants and toddler with Down syndrome and those with typical development. Infant and toddler gender showed significant differences and was included as a relevant factor in the analyses.Results: Key findings include lower scores in parental sensitivity and non‐directiveness in dyads with children with Down syndrome. Children with Down syndrome also showed lower scores in attention to the caregiver. Interactions with children with Down syndrome exhibited less mutuality and engagement. Significant gender‐based interactions were found, showing that parents are more sensitive and less directive with girls with Down syndrome, who also show greater expression of negative affect and better attention to the caregiver.Conclusions: This study suggests different qualities in early interactions when a child with Down syndrome is involved. These interactions are characterised by lower sensitivity and greater directiveness, possibly in response to the lower attention towards the caregiver observed in these children. This results in less mutual interaction. The findings' alignment with previous research and implications for clinical work are discussed. Given the observed effect of the child's gender, future research should further explore this aspect.

Cognitive assessment is a fundamental step in diagnosing intellectual and developmental disabilities, designing interventions, and evaluating their impact. However, developed and developing countries have different access to tools designed for these purposes. Our goal was to develop a battery for cognitive assessment mediated by digital technology that allows the exploration of cognitive domains (inhibitory control, attention, motor ability, and context memory) in children with Down Syndrome (DS) in Chile. Four tasks, based on established experimental paradigms modified to provide a game-like experience, were tested in 68 children with DS from 20 months to 12 years of age. We present evidence of reliability based on internal consistency and split-half analyses, with results ranging from adequate to excellent. Regarding validity, factorial and correlational analyses show evidence consistent with what was theoretically expected of internal structure, convergence, and divergence with other measures. Expected age trajectories were observed as well. Our data offer evidence that supports the use of tasks based on touch-screen devices for cognitive assessment in the population with DS. The tasks also have a low cultural load, so they could be validated and used in other contexts without the need for an adaptation process.

Human service organizations faced extraordinary challenges due to COVID-19. Despite the increasing interest and research in this new scenario, there has been limited discussion about the impact of COVID-19 on workers, the challenges they faced, and the resulting stress. This study aimed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on work-related stress and the mediating role of inclusion among workers in human service organizations in Chile during the pandemic. The research design was quantitative and involved a sample of 173 workers from civil society organizations who were contacted during the pandemic. The study confirmed that individuals most affected by the pandemic experienced higher levels of work-related stress, and that inclusion played a negative mediating role in this relationship. This article highlights the importance of relationships, decision-making processes, and access to information in reducing stress in post-COVID scenarios for organizations that traditionally handle crises.

Este artículo presenta un estudio exploratorio sobre los factores que fortalecen a las cooperativas de cuidado en Uruguay, Argentina y Chile. Estas organizaciones voluntarias se basan en el concepto de "trabajo decente", con el objetivo de brindar soluciones a la formalización laboral, las aspiraciones económicas y la creciente demanda de servicios de cuidado de la población. Sin embargo, a pesar de sus objetivos, estas cooperativas a menudo encuentran barreras relacionadas con la equidad de género, la dinámica del mercado laboral y las condiciones de bienestar que obstaculizan su alineación con estos ideales. Esta situación abre la siguiente pregunta de investigación: ¿Cuáles son las condiciones bajo las cuales se constituyen las cooperativas de cuidado en Uruguay, Argentina y Chile? Para trabajar la cuestión propuesta nuestro objetivo general es explorar las experiencias y percepciones de las personas asociadas al mundo de las cooperativas de cuidados. Para investigar esta dinámica, realizamos 16 entrevistas electrónicas semiestructuradas en Uruguay, Argentina y Chile, utilizando un enfoque de muestreo en bola de nieve. Estas entrevistas profundizaron en los principales obstáculos y facilitadores que influyen en el desarrollo de estas iniciativas cooperativas. Nuestros hallazgos subrayan los diversos desafíos que enfrentan las cooperativas de atención, incluidos aquellos asociados con cuestiones relacionadas con el género, la falta de experiencia y la necesidad esencial de apoyo tanto público como privado. El logro de este artículo es establecer una plataforma de diálogo en torno a las cooperativas de cuidado dentro del Cono Sur de América Latina. Arrojamos luz sobre el imperativo de la formalización y los complejos problemas que surgen al intentar satisfacer la creciente demanda de servicios de cuidado en la región.

Background: People with intellectual disability in Chile face individual and collective barriers to social participation. Lack of knowledge about their rights and tools for effective self‐advocacy seem to be key elements that need to be improved to facilitate participation.Method: We present PaísDI, a 16 h long manualised program created by self‐advocates in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team, with four modules: rights and intellectual disability, leadership in intellectual disability, effective communication and financial considerations of social projects. This quasi‐experimental study had 349 participants, divided in three groups: people with intellectual disability, relatives and professionals. Feasibility and effectiveness where measured.Results: The program is shown to be viable and effective, especially in its impact on self‐perception for self‐advocacy activities.Conclusion: The discussion highlights Chile's historic debt in creating policies that promote self‐determination, knowledge and the empowerment of people with intellectual disability, to bolster their participation as citizens.

Given the importance of adaptive behaviour (AB) for the identification of intellectual disability and the design of intervention plans for people with Down syndrome (DS), this cross-sectional study...

Home Literacy Environment (HLE) plays a fundamental role in the development of reading and writing skills in children. Evidence suggests differences in HLE components based on cultural and idiosyncratic characteristics. Most studies show a relationship between contextual variables with the quality of HLE in typically developing (TD) children. There are HLE studies with families of children with Down syndrome (DS) that show similar results, but the characteristics of HLE for Latin-American families of children with DS remain unexplored. This study analyses the HLE in a group of 161 families of children with DS, between 3 and 12 years of age, living in urban areas of Chile. Data were collected using an online survey. Results showed differences on the amount of literacy materials, linguistic environment, and beliefs and expectations of parents. Better HLE was observed in families with parents with high educational levels. In the context of previous studies from developed countries with families of children with DS and from Chile with families of TD children, the HLE of families with children with DS in Chile seems poor. This descriptive evidence is necessary to raise concerns in policy makers and national funding agencies to open a way to conduct experimental studies.

Background: People with intellectual disabilities have been historically excluded from decision-making processes. Previous literature indicates that increasing social participation may be an effective way to address this exclusion, but no systematic review of interventions designed to increase social participation of people with intellectual disabilities have been conducted. This study aims to identify and organize the factors associated with interventions that increase the social participation of people with intellectual disabilities and to provide a set of best of practices for future interventions. Methods/design: The databases Web of Science, Scopus, LILACS, and PubMed will be searched for articles from January 2004 onwards; grey literature search will be identified through searching additional databases (such as Google Scholar and EBSCO databases). Randomized controlled trials, nonrandomized controlled trials, and controlled pre–post studies will be included. Noncontrolled pre–post studies will also be included. Observational or qualitative studies will be excluded. The primary outcomes are measures of social participation. Secondary outcomes include measures of well-being, stigma, knowledge about rights, and advocacy processes. Two reviewers will independently screen articles, extract relevant data, and assess the quality of the studies. We will provide a meta-analysis of included studies if possible, or a quantitative narrative synthesis otherwise. Discussion: This systematic review will add to our understanding of effective social participation interventions for people with intellectual disability. It will allow us to identify and organize which factors lead to an increase in social participation and help us define a set of best practices to be followed by future interventions. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42020189093