Social Skills and People With Disabilities: Overview of Brazilian Research

Abstract

Research about the social skills field has been growing in recent decades and, in parallel, studies that seek to systematize what has been produced. This study aimed to characterize, through a literature review, empirical studies carried out by Brazilian authors published in journals that directly investigate the social skills of people with disabilities. A search was carried out in the SciELO, PEPSIC, LILACS, Index Psi, BDENF and Periodicals CAPES databases with the descriptors social skills and social competence, without restriction regarding the period of publication. It was found 43 articles were characterized in terms of bibliographic and methodological aspects. The results indicate a high volume of research with a descriptive design, a higher frequency of participants with intellectual disabilities, a predominance of inventories as a means of evaluation and a scarcity of instrumental research on validation or development of measures. This review may contribute with information to support further research on social skills with people with disabilities.