Using a Person-Centered Approach in Community-Based Instruction for Adults with Developmental Disabilities

Instruction is a variable that has enhanced community access for adults with developmental disabilities. Community-based instruction emerged as an especially useful format to teach individuals daily living and work skills in the settings where skills would be used. As advocacy and self-advocacy for individuals with developmental disabilities increased, professionals recognized the importance of empowerment and self-determination in gaining community access. Adult education that incorporates the values of person-centered planning will evolve beyond what has traditionally been viewed as community-based instruction. This article describes the characteristics of community-based instruction designed to enhance not only community access, but also the participant's overall quality of life.     

THE EFFECTS OF CHOICE AND TASK PREFERENCE ON THE WORK PERFORMANCE OF ADULTS WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

We evaluated the effects of choice versus the assignment of tasks of varying preferences on the work engagement of adults with severe disabilities. The combined results of two experiments suggest that the relative preference for a task may be an important variable in the effectiveness of choice for some individuals.     

Division of labor in conversations: Are Fishman's results replicable and generalizable?

Fishman's (1978a) conclusion that women do the bulk of the support work in their conversations with male partners has had widespread appeal. In this article, we present the results of two studies designed to assess the generalizability and replicability of her findings. In Study 1. the get-acquainted conversations of 20 mixed-sex, 10 male same-sex, and 10 female same-sex dyads were analyzed for the support strategies identified by Fishman. No support for a sexual division of labor was found. In Study 2, we analyzed the casual, at-home conversations of 17 intimate male-female couples. Again, we found no evidence that the women used more of the support strategies than their male partners. Rather, our findings suggest that the women may have helped to sustain the conversations with their male partners simply by talking more. The appeal of Fishman's conclusions in the absence of empirical evidence suggests that she has touched on a mythic truth.This article is based on a Master's thesis by the second author (Study 1) and an Honour's thesis by the third author (Study 2) under the supervision of the first author.     

An investigation of the effects of comorbid Axis II pathology on outcome of inpatient treatment for unipolar depression

DSM-based research on comorbidity has suggested thatdepression andpersonality disorder frequently occur together and that the combination of syndromes is associated with a poor response to treatment for depression. The present study was designed to explore the effect of comorbid Axis II pathology for a sample of 45 inpatients who received treatment for major depression. Both categorical and dimensional ratings of personality disorder were used in the statistical analysis. Positive categorical diagnosis of Cluster C (anxious-avoidant) disorder, as well as higher dimensional rating of Cluster A (odd-eccentric) pathology, was predictive of a poor response to treatment (p<.05), as measured by change in pre-post clinical ratings on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale. These results were construed as indicative of a significant Axis II comorbidity effect in the context of an inpatient, multimodal treatment setting for depression. The results also spotlight the influence of techniques of measurement in determining the outcome of statistical analysis.     

Body type preferences and body characteristics associated with attractive and unattractive bodies by african Americans and Anglo Americans

Body type preferences, body characteristics associated with body attractiveness, and personal characteristics associated with unattractive body types (e.g., obese bodies) were examined in African American and Anglo American female and male respondents. African American males preferred larger body types for females, and associated more favorable and fewer unfavorable characteristics with obese females than did Anglo American males. Females of both races preferred a slightly thin body type for males, although African American females associated fewer unfavorable characteristics with obese males than did Anglo American females. Difference between the races in body characteristics associated with attractiveness suggest race-specific prototypes of body attractiveness that correspond to physical differences between the races. Race-specific standards of attractiveness within cultures are discussed.     

Sensory modality and the word-frequency effect

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether the word-frequency effect in recognition memory is primarily a modality-dependent phenomenon. In the first experiment, the presentation modality of a target word was varied orthogonally during the input of the test phases. In the second, the subjects were forced to process each input word at the letter-byo letter level, thus minimizing the orthographical differences between the high- and low-frequency words. The word-frequency effect was found in every experimental condition and should be considered a modality-independent phenomenon. A semantically based interpretation of this effect was proposed.     

Alcohol breath tests: Criterion times for avoiding contamination by “mouth alcohol”

Using either a gas chromatography or an infrared absorption technique, series of blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) determined by breath tests were obtained from human subjects immediately subsequent to their having only oral contact with beverages ranging in ethyl alcohol concentration from 4% to 95% +. Times for total dissipation of mouth alcohol residuals to a level of practical nonsignificance ranged from 10 to 19 min. Dissipation rates were an inverse and approximately exponential function of the ethyl alcohol concentration of the beverage and were greatly shortened by rinsing the mouth with warm (34°C) water prior to testing. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance to the methodology of a number of research studies employing BAC breath-testing equipment.     

The effects of control on perceived fairness of procedures and outcomes

On the basis of Thibaut and Walker's theory of procedural justice, it was predicted that subjects who experienced control through choosing a trial decision rule would be more satisfied with the outcome of a dispute and the conflict resolution procedure than would yoked subjects who were not given control. Two additional conditions were added to the design in order to investigate the extent to which control had an influence on trial evaluations independent of being allowed to discuss the rules and obtaining a preferred rule in the absence of actual choice. Regardless of role in the dispute (accuser, accused, or no knowledge) and the nature of the rule adopted, those subjects who exercised control through rule choice evaluated all aspects of the trial experience more positively than subjects who did not exercise control through rule choice. The results also revealed that discussion of the rules and obtaining the preferred rule without choice contributed positively to evaluations of the trial procedure and verdict.