Online social networks as a tool to support people with special needs

Supporting people with special needs is a multi-disciplinary endeavour that involves many stakeholders. Social relations have a determining impact on the quality of the related processes. Online social networks (OSN) have demonstrated their capacity to change human interaction paradigms; however, their application to disability is a barely-explored field of research. This paper describes the design, development and deployment of an OSN in a 24/7 residence for people with disabilities in order to improve productivity, enhance the quality of care processes and foster social relations. During fourteen months of operation, 46 people, including caregivers, health professionals (psychologists, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists, among others), supervisors, administrative staff, residents and their family members, used the OSN. Our quantitative and qualitative results indicate adequate OSN technical performance; validate user-oriented design methodology; confirm productivity and quality of service improvement; and confirm the capacity of OSNs to positively influence social relations in such environments.