Preparing nonretarded young persons to meet mentally retarded adults

A representative sample of 420, 15- and 16-year-old students in Dublin city participated in a short educational program designed to introduce them to mentally retarded adults. The main feature was a carefully, structured contact session with retarded peers held in the students' school. Various control procedures ascertained that the program had been effective at increasing the students' confidence at meeting retarded people. Moreover, the majority of students voluntarily chose to visit a local mental retardation center, and a proportion of them maintained regular contacts. We argued that students need to be given explicit guidance on how to interact with retarded peers.