A Little Goes a Long Way: The Impact of Distal Social Support on Community Integration and Recovery of Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities

Although an extensive body of literature highlights the important role of social support for individuals with psychiatric disabilities, definitions of support tend to be restricted—focusing on intimate relationships such as friend and family networks and ignoring the role of casual relationships existing naturally in the community. This mixed-methods study of 300 consumers of mental health services in the Southeastern US aims to better understand the impact of community supports, termed distal supports, on community integration and recovery from mental illness. Qualitative content analysis, tests of group mean differences, and hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed the following: (1) participants primarily reported receiving tangible support (e.g., free medication/discounted goods) from distal supports rather than emotional support (e.g., displays of warmth/affection) or informational support (e.g., provision of advice); (2) women and older participants reported more distal supports than men or younger participants; and (3) distal supports played a unique role in predicting community integration and recovery even after accounting for the influence of traditional support networks. Results highlight the importance of considering diverse types of social support in naturally occurring settings when designing treatment plans and interventions aimed at encouraging community participation and adaptive functioning for individuals with psychiatric disabilities.     

Women with Physical Disabilities Who Want to Leave Their Partners

Abstract

Four domains of barriers for women with physical disabilities who are considering leaving a partner are outlined. These obstacles include (a) physical needs; (b) financial needs; (c) custody concerns; and (d) relationship issues. Disability policies can have direct bearing on the lives of women with disabilities, and hence on their freedom to choose to remain with or to leave a partner.     

Womanist Therapy with African American Women with Disabilities

Abstract

African American women are at increased risk for disabilities. There is very little information available, however, regarding psychological interventions with African American women with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to discuss psychological intervention in working with African American women with acquired disabilities from a womanist perspective. Themes and interventions will be discussed. Recommendations for working with African American women with disabilities in a therapeutic context will be offered.     

Counselling,autism and the problem of empathy

The experiences of disabled people suggest that ableism insidiously and invasively impacts upon the practice of counselling and related therapies. This article critiques a particular account of psychotherapy with a child with the label of autism to illustrate how ableism can disrupt the process of empathy and negate the therapeutic experience. In so doing the article highlights the inherent difficulties in traversing different epistemic positions to make sufficiently informed readings of counternormative expressions of being. General principles of counselling practice are then proposed to support practitioners with providing effective therapy for all clients.     

Visual Perception and Memory Impairments in Children at Risk of Nonverbal Learning Disabilities

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and visual perception were examined in two groups aged 11–13, one with children displaying symptoms of nonverbal learning disability (NLD) (n = 18) and the other a control group without learning disabilities (n = 18). The two groups were matched for general verbal abilities, age, gender, and socioeconomic level. The children were presented with VSWM tests involving visual and spatial-simultaneous processes, and also with a classical visual illusion, a classical ambiguous figure, as well as visual perception tests specifically devised for the present study. Results revealed that performance of children at risk of NLD was worse than controls in some VSWM and in visual perception tests without memory involvement; these latter required comparisons of visual stimuli and locations in space with distractors. Moreover, the two groups differed in perceiving the classical ambiguous figure. Findings are discussed in the light of both theoretical and clinical implications.     

Acquired physical disability: Personal meanings in a rural South African setting

This study explored personal meanings attached to acquired physical disabilities in a rural South African community. Informants were seven adults with disability (females?=?4; age range?=?18 to 55 years). They responded to semi-structured face-to-face interviews on the meanings they attached to their physical disabilities acquired during adulthood. Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis: new life style, activity limitations, participation restrictions, and cultural marginalisation. The meanings and accompanying lifestyle changes have implications for personal functioning and social well-being.     

Community without memory? In search of an ecclesiology of liberation in the company of people with dementia

The increasing prevalence of dementia among members of the Christian Churches prompts a re-evaluation of Christian ecclesiology. This is particularly true for the ecclesiology born of the theologies of liberation, because of the emphasis it places upon conscious participation in the historical life of the community. The present article draws on stories of people with dementia as recorded by themselves and those close to them; by reflection upon these stories, it seeks to re-think the character of the Church in the face of this challenge, and so to offer a richer interpretation of its identity as a community of liberation.     

Chapter 8: “Always Green and Full of Sap”: Facilitating Wholeness in Aging

SUMMARY

Wholeness in aging is difficult to define, especially in the face of physical disability or catastrophic illness. How one meets the challenges of aging depends upon numerous physical, emotional, and spiritual factors. Rehabilitation may play an important role in restoring wholeness to those with physical disabilities. Likewise, a physical fitness program may lessen some of the effects of aging, helping the older person maintain a higher quality of life. The lived theologies of the older patients and their caregivers also interact, providing an important ground of connection in rediscovery of wholeness as well. Ultimately, our most important role as healthcare providers is to help our older patients regain and maintain this multidimensional wholeness even in times of physical challenge.     

Frequent Versus Non-frequent Prompts and Task Performance in Persons with Severe Intellectual Disability

Abstract

This study extended the evaluation of frequent vs non-frequent prompts to support task performance with people with severe intellectual disability. Three participants were involved in the study. The data indicated that the frequent prompts strategy promoted higher levels of on-task behaviour and correct responding for 2 participants and on-task behaviour for 1 participant. The relation of these data with previous findings and their implications for daily occupation programmes for persons with severe developmental disabilities are discussed     

Factor structure of the construct of adaptive behavior in children with and without intellectual disability

Although the presence of significant limitations in adaptive behavior constitutes one of the three necessary criteria for diagnosing intellectual disability, adaptive behavior structure has always been the subject of considerable controversy among researchers. The main goal of this study is to extend previous research results that provide further support to a multidimensional structure of conceptual, social, and practical skills compared to the unidimensional structure. One-factor and 3-correlated factors models as measured by 15 observable indicators were analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), as well as their relationships with one second-order factor (i.e., adaptive behavior). To that end, 388 children with and without intellectual disabilities were assessed with the Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (DABS). Results of CFA indicated that the 3 first-order factors solution provides the best fit to the data. Reliability and validity of the multidimensional model were also analyzed through different methods such as the composite reliability and the average variance extracted. Finally, implications of these findings and possible directions for future research are discussed.