Introduction: Research indicates that children with an intellectual disability [ID] are at an increased risk of developing attachment difficulties and subsequent affect regulation difficulties. Attachment theory may further understanding of the risk factors for individuals with an ID experiencing mental health problems, challenging behaviour and emotional difficulties. However, there is a paucity of research into attachment and adults with ID and there is a lack of valid and reliable measures for assessing attachment security for this group. The Manchester Attachment Scale-Third Party Observational Measure [MAST] was developed to assess degree of secure attachment behaviour for adults with ID and the current study examined the psychometric properties of the MAST. Method: Professional carers [N=40] supporting individuals with an ID completed the MAST and other measures related to the construct of attachment theory (subscales of the Edward Zigler-Yale Personality Questionnaire[EZPQ] and Emotional Rating Scale [ERS] as well as the Learning Disability Casemix Scale [LDCS) regarding individuals with an ID they were supporting [N=57]. Individuals with an ID [N=14] completed the Self-report Assessment of Attachment Security [SRAAS]. Results: The MAST was found to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The convergent validity of the MAST was indicated by positive correlation with the EZPQ subscales (negative reaction tendency, obedience, positive reaction tendency and outerdirectedness) and scores on the SRAAS. The MAST was found to be correlated with both levels of ID and presence of challenging behaviour as measured by LDCS scores. Conclusion: These current results provide preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the MAST as a measure of secure attachment behaviour for adults with ID. The results provide support for previous research that indicates a relationship between attachment security and level of ID and challenging behaviour. The results of the study and the implications of attachment theory for adults with ID are discussed.

The general intention of recent Swedish legislation concerning adults with intellectual disabilities has been to provide care and support for this group in small settings in the community. It has been shown that adults with intellectual disabilities are better equipped to exert influence over their own care and support when living in group homes in the community and other forms of independent living as opposed to large institutional settings. Recent research on this group has to a great extent concerned the study of how life is in small group homes for this group and has highlighted obstacles preventing them from participating in society. Previous research has indicated that living in institutional settings makes it difficult for them to exert influence on their lives. A small number of large institutional care settings still exist, however, in Sweden and there is a dearth of research that focuses on how adults with intellectual disabilities experience everyday life in such settings. In addition, little research has been carried out on the role of the care workers who work in such settings. The aim of this research has thus been to describe the experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities and care workers of living and working in an institutional care setting in Sweden.   An ethnographic approach including participant observation and in-depth interviews was used to gain a deeper understanding of how adults with intellectual disabilities and staff experience their everyday life in an institutional care setting. The result showed that the residents experienced;  I) a sense of belonging, which was connected to having access to a private sphere and being part of social togetherness;  II) a feeling of insecurity in relation to other residents and care workers;  III) a longing for independence and a desire to get away. The study of the staff revealed three main themes that represent their approach; I) creating a family-like atmosphere; II) making the everyday life ordered and structured; III) being exposed to stress factors.   The results revealed the importance of paying close attention to what adults with intellectual disabilities and their care workers have to say about their everyday lives when living and working in an institutional care setting. It may be concluded that adults living in an institutional care setting experience their everyday lives in existential terms such as belonging, insecurity and longing. For caring science and in caring practices of people with intellectual disabilities, it is not satisfactory that residents experience such an insecure existence in a care setting. In order to provide individual care and support, staff need to be more open and vigilant as to the residents’ vulnerability and be able to guide them in matters  concerning emotional aspects. It was seen that care workers in their everyday work with residents in an institutional care setting used experiences from their personal lives in situations where they lacked formal care training. Such experiences may have helped to create meaningfulness but at the same time risked preserving inequality and gender stereotyping. In order to avoid these risks care workers should receive clear directives from the management about the care objectives, and guidelines about how best to care for adults with intellectual disabilities and offer them individualized care. Furthermore, it also became evident that care workers need additional support, training and opportunities for reflection to cope with their complex work situation. The results of this research can contribute to a greater insight and deeper knowledge of what adults with intellectual disabilities experience in an institutional care setting in the 2000’s , enabling the staff and management to further enhance the well-being for this group of individuals. The findings can provide feedback to staff, managers and researchers working in the intellectual disabilities field.   Keywords: adults with intellectual disabilities, care, care workers, ethnography, institutional care setting, Sweden

Dažnai ieškoti bendraminčių ir burtis į muzikinį kolektyvą skatina nuogirdos apie ypatingus, visiškai kitokius muzikuojančių žmonių santykius. Todėl šiame tyrime siekta sužinoti, kokie yra sutrikusio intelekto suaugusiųjų muzikinio ugdymo ypatumai grupėje „Spalvų orkestro” atveju. Tyrimo tikslas – išanalizuoti sutrikusio intelekto suaugusiųjų muzikavimo kolektyve ypatumus. Uždaviniai - teoriškai pagrįsti sutrikusio intelekto suaugusiųjų muzikinio ugdymo grupėje prielaidas, ištirti sutrikusio intelekto suaugusiųjų muzikinio ugdymo „Spalvų orkestre“ ypatumus ir išsiaiškinti sutrikusio intelekto suaugusiųjų tėvų/globėjų požiūrį į kolektyvinį muzikavimą. Tyrimas buvo atliktas Vilniaus „Spalvų orkestre“, kuriame groja sutrikusio intelekto suaugusieji. Tyrimo metu buvo apklausti „Spalvų orkestro“ vadovai, orkestro narių tėvai ir patys orkestro nariai. Taikyti stebėjimo, interviu ir anketinės apklausos raštu metodai. Tyrimo metu išaiškėjo, jog Lietuvoje skatinamas mokymasis visą gyvenimą, ypač svarbus negalią turintiems suaugusiems. „Spalvų orkestro“ lankymas padeda sutrikusio intelekto suaugusiems integruotis į visuomenę, skatina neįgaliųjų iniciatyvą, formuoja jų socialinius įgūdžius. Pastebėta, kad lankant „Spalvų orkestro“ repeticijas, orkestro nariai išmoksta groti muzikos instrumentu, pažinti natas, lavina dainavimo, grojimo, ritmo pojūčio įgūdžius, klausą, mokosi išreikšti emocijas pagal muzikinį kūrinį, susipažįsta su muzikiniais terminais ir juos naudoja muzikuojant... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Often find partners in musical ensemble encourages rumor about a special, completely different musicians human relations. Therefore, this study aimed to find out what is mentally retarded adult music education characteristics of "Color Orchestra“ case study. The aim - analyze music collective features of mentally retarded adults. Tasks - theoretically justify music education of mentally retarded adult group assumptions, explore the music education features of mentally retarded adult in "Color Orchestra“ and find out the approach of parents/ guardians about „Color Orchestra“ features. The study was carried out in Vilnius „Color Orchestra“, which plays mentally retarded adults. The study has been questioned "Color Orchestra" leaders, members of the orchestra parents and band members. Apply observation, interviews and a written questionnaire methods. The study revealed that Lithuania promote lifelong learning, critical disability in adults. "Color Orchestra“ visits to help adults with intellectual disabilities to integrate into society, promotes disability initiative forms, their social skills. It is noted that while visiting "Color Orchestra“ rehearsals, orchestra members learn to play a musical instrument, read music, develop singing, playing, sense of rhythm skills, hearing, learn to express emotions by musical composition, familiar with musical terms and use them while playing. Mentally retarded adults make friends, gain more skills to communicate in a group, to manage... [to full text]

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Despite an abundance of research on interventions to improve social skills of young children with intellectual disabilities (ID), there is limited research on interventions aimed at improving social skills of adults with ID. The purpose of this single-subject study was to evaluate the outcomes of the Behavioral Opportunities for Social Skills (BOSS) teaching program for adults with ID. The theoretical framework for this study was Skinner's operant conditioning which incorporates the principles of applied behavior analysis, reinforcement, and operant extinction. After direct support professionals were trained in the BOSS teaching program, research questions were used to determine (a) changes in the frequency of praise statements given by direct support professionals to adults with ID; (b) differences in the frequency of cooperative and polite behaviors of adults with ID; and (c) increases or decreases in the frequency of challenging behaviors exhibited by adults with ID. A multiple-baseline design across participants and settings was used to evaluate the behavioral changes. Prosocial behaviors of 3 adults with ID and 3 direct support professionals' delivery of specific praise statements showed visually discernable increases and large effect sizes (ES -?¥ 0.92). The outcomes of this study contribute to positive social change as demonstrated by the positive behavioral changes achieved by the adults with ID who increased their prosocial behaviors and the direct support professionals who increased their delivery of specific praise statements following the implementation of the BOSS teaching program.

November 2010. "Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Occupational Therapy Department, College of Allied Health and Nursing, Nova Southeastern University." This study explored the lived experiences of older mothers who continue to be the primary care providers for their adult children who have intellectual disabilities. This research study used the Person-Occupation-Environment model (Law et al., 1996) from occupational therapy and occupational science as the orienting framework. The broad question this study sought to answer was: What are the lived experiences of perpetual mothers who live with their adult child with intellectual disabilities? Other related questions were: How have mothers created and adapted daily routines and occupations for themselves and their children? What meaning and purpose evolves for perpetual mothers from their lifelong caregiver role? How do they describe this sense of meaning and purpose? The grounding of this study within occupational therapy and occupational science combined with the research questions led to implementation of a phenomenological research approach for this research. Specifically, the structure inherent in Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Larkin, & Flowers, 2009) was adopted as the guide to methodology. Participants were identified using purposive and snowball sampling and were interviewed using Seidman's (2006) three-interview structure. The five women who participated in this study ranged from 68 to 83 years old. The themes that emerged represent structures that articulate the core of their lived experiences as primary caregiving mothers of adults who have intellectual disabilities. The essential structures or themes of these women's lived experiences are mothers' actions to structure daily life for their sons, mothers' routines--engaged lives, mothers' expertise, and mothers' reflections on mothering a son with intellectual disabilities. The results of this study contribute a focus on maternal experiences to the body of literature about, and practice with, adults who have intellectual disabilities and their families. In addition, this study contributes to the body of literature about mothering occupations found in occupational therapy and occupational science. This dissertation discussed implications for occupational therapy practice and research.

Die Familie ist ein Ort der gelebten, staatlich geförderten und geforderten Subsidiarität sowie Solidarität. Sie ist ein Ort der Identitätsbildung. In der Literatur und in der praktischen Arbeit in der Behindertenhilfe liegt der Fokus meist bei den Personen mit Behinderung selbst oder aber auf ihren Müttern. Väter finden demgegenüber bisher nur sehr vereinzelt Beachtung. Zu Vätern von erwachsenen Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung gibt es bis dato kaum Untersuchungen, ihre Tätigkeiten in der Familie und ihre Perspektive sind weitgehend unbekannt. Das Ziel dieser Untersuchung besteht in der Annäherung an ihre Perspektive mit Hilfe der Interpretativen Sozialforschung nach Gabriele ROSENTHAL. Durch eine tiefgreifende Betrachtung und Interpretation der Biographien von Vätern (Jahrgänge 1929-1953) sollen deren Handlungsstrukturen nachvollziehbar gemacht und ein Bewusst-sein für sie und ihr Leben entwickelt werden. In der vorliegenden qualitativen Studie werden am Beispiel von detaillierten lebensgeschichtlichen Rekonstruktionen die Familientätigkeiten der Väter, aber eben auch die Genese ihrer Handlungen und Entscheidungen im Blick auf ihre erwachsenen Kind mit Behinderung beleuchtet. Auf Basis des „verstehenden Zuganges“ werden Biographien rekonstruiert und interpretiert. Mit Hilfe des kontrastiven Vergleiches werden Unterschiede, Gemeinsamkeiten und Besonderheiten herausgearbeitet. Diese Ergebnisse werden in einem weiteren Schritt einer ersten kritischen Reflektion in Hinblick auf Unterstützungsangebote in der Behindertenhilfe unterzogen. Hierbei stellt sich die „ethnographische Kompetenz“ als zentral heraus. Zudem bilden die Ergebnisse den Ausgangspunkt für weiterführende Forschungen. Diese Arbeit soll dazu dienen, die Bedeutung der Väter in Forschung und Behindertenhilfe zu fokussieren. / Family is a living and breathing space of solidarity, but it is also one of government subsidies and sponsoring. Family is a place where identities are formed. The focus of both disability literature and praxis centers primarily on the disabled themselves or on their mothers. Fathers, by contrast, have only been the occasional focus of study. Until now, no studies have been conducted that examine the Fathers of adults with intellectual disabilities; their perspective is therefore largely unknown. With the help of Gabriele Rosenthal’s interpretative social research, the goal of this study is to approach the Father-perspective and gain a deeper consideration and interpretation thereof by examining the biographies of fathers born between 1929 to 1953. In approaching fathers’ perspectives by such means, they are made tangible, and one can better understand the choices they make as well as their lives in general. This qualitative study, grounded in sociological biography research, will examine detailed examples of contrasting familial reconstructions and paternal activities. In doing so, the goal is to illuminate the fathers’ choices, coping mechanisms, and decisional reasoning with respect to, for example, their adult children with disabilities. The biographies are presented, analyzed and interpreted in accordance with "interpretive access". By using comparative contrast, differences, similarities and specificities are then elaborated. These findings are further subjected to critical reflection while regarding the structure of handicapped assistance. The result of such reflection reveals the central importance of "ethnographic competency". This work is intended to increase the significance of fathers in research that focuses on disability assistance, and the conclusions here, are a starting point for further research.

Personer med intellektuella funktionsnedsättningar är en extra sårbar grupp i frågan om att utsättas för våld i nära relation. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka professionellas perspektiv och upplevelser i arbetet med våldsutsatta vuxna som också har en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Vi genomförde en kvalitativ studie där sex informanter från offentlig och ideell sektor, som alla har erfarenhet av stödjande arbete med målgruppen, intervjuades. Det insamlade materialet analyserades med hjälp av tematisk analys och med stöd av empowerment-teori samt Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrati. Detta resulterade i tre huvudteman: Behovet av synliggörande, Främjandet av ett gott stöd och Organisatoriska förutsättningar för arbetet. Dessa teman speglade behovet av att synliggöra och stärka målgruppen, att arbeta mer förebyggande och hur de professionella resonerar kring sin förmåga att erbjuda stöd och hjälp. Resultatet pekade även på behovet av mer samverkan mellan sektorer och hur organisatoriska skillnader kan påverka handlingsutrymmet för de professionella. Några viktiga slutsatser är att arbetet behöver bli mer individanpassat för att kunna möta de särskilda behoven hos personer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning och att samhället som helhet behöver ta ett större ansvar för att nå ut till målgruppen och lyfta samt motverka deras ökade sårbarhet att utsättas för våld i nära relation. / Individuals with intellectual disabilities constitute an especially vulnerable and marginalised group concerning the risk of being exposed to domestic violence. This paper aims to examine the perspectives and experiences of professionals working with adults who are both victims of domestic violence and have an intellectual disability. We conducted a qualitative study in which six informants from the public and non-profit sectors, all with experience in providing support to this target group, were interviewed. The collected data were analysed using thematic analysis, supported by empowerment theory and Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy. This resulted in three main themes: The need for visibility, The promoting of competent support and Organizational working conditions. These themes reflected the need to raise awareness of and empower the target group, work more preventively, and how professionals reason about their ability to offer support. The findings also indicated the necessity for increased collaboration between sectors and highlighted how organizational differences can affect the discretion of professionals. Some key conclusions include the imperative for more individualized approaches to meet the specific needs of those with intellectual disabilities, and that society as a whole needs to take greater responsibility in reaching out to the target group. This involves raising awareness and counteracting their increased vulnerability to domestic violence.

Att ha ett lönearbete är centralt för individens tillvaro och identitet. En av grupperna i samhället som har det svårast att etablera sig på arbetsmarknaden är individer med funktionsnedsättning. Syftet med denna littraturöversikt är att öka förståelsen och kunskapen kring hinder och möjligheter på arbetsmarknaden för unga vuxna med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Artiklarna som belyser utanförskap, stigmatisering, hinder, lagstiftning, stödinsater och möjligheter kommer att undersökas för att beskriva deras samband till unga vuxna med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Vägen till arbete för individer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning påverkas av olika faktorer. I Sverige har unga vuxna med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning en låg etableringsgrad på arbetsmarknaden. Trots stödinsatser kan personer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning känna sig exkluderade från arbetsmarknaden vilket beror på arbetsgivarna synsätt, stigmatisering på arbetsmarknaden och låga förväntningar. Resultaten i denna stuide har analyserats utifrån teorier om KASAM (känsla av sammanhang) och stigma. Resultatet visar på att individer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning kan trots stödinsatser uppleva exkludering av kollegor och arbetsgivare på arbetsmarknaden. Sammanfattningsvis diskuterades hinder och möjligheter som unga med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning upplever på arbetsmarknaden. / Having a paid job is central to the individual´s existence and identity. One of the groups in society that has the hardest time establishing themselves in the labor market are individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this litrature review is to increase understanding and knowledge about obstacles and opportunities in the labor market for young adults with intellectual disabilities. The path to work for individuals with intellectual disabilities is influenced by various factors. In Sweden, young adult with intellectual disabilities have a low rate of establishment in the labor market. Despite support efforts, people with intellectual disabilites can feel excluded from the labor market, witch is due to employers´attitudes, stigmatization in the workplace and low expectations. The results of this study have been analyzed based on theories of KASAM (sense og context) and stigma from Goffman. The results show that individuals with intellectual disabilites can experiece exclusion from colleagues and employers in the labor market, despite support. In summary, obstacles and opportunities that young adults with intellectual disabilities experience in the labor market were discussed.