Over the last 30 years there has been a paradigmatic shift in the field of disabilities towards assessing individual support needs in relation to social and environmental context rather than individual deficits. The capacity of existing assessment instruments to assess support needs is limited because most were designed to assess individual deficits and thereby determine eligibility for funding and/or services. Some instruments have been designed to assess support needs but there are several problems associated with these instruments including, suitability for use in only one disability type, susceptibility to rater bias, and failure to account for variations in support needs over time. This thesis attempted to contribute to addressing these deficiencies by examining the characteristics that are most predictive of support needs for people with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities and the methods by which changes in such support needs could be predicted. Two studies were used to address these aims. The first considered samples of people with primary psychiatric disabilities (N= 561) and intellectual disabilities (N =168), who lived in Supported Residential Facilities. These participants were assessed in regards not only to standard demographic and disability characteristics, and also personal characteristics, including functional abilities, and support needs. The data were analysed using ordinal logistic regression to determine which better predicted support needs and, accordingly, which characteristics were most important to include in the assessment of support needs. Analysis showed that personal characteristics, such as functional abilities such as showering/bathing and budgeting explained much more variance in support needs than either demographics or disability characteristics. This suggests that, for support needs assessments to be accurately assessed, they should include evaluations of these personal characteristics even though they may require more time and resources to obtain than demographic and disability data. The second study in this thesis aimed to investigate whether caregivers could predict changes in support needs over six-month periods accurately. Residents in supported accommodation with a primary psychiatric disability (N = 60; although some attrition among those with psychiatric disabilities), or primary intellectual disability (N = 57) and their caregivers were involved in this study. Caregivers were interviewed on three occasions at six-monthly intervals and asked to estimate any changes that they expected to occur in the next six months or that they believed had occurred in the preceding six months. Caregivers were also asked to complete two functional assessments for each resident at the three points in time. The functional assessments were used as the benchmark against which the accuracy of caregivers’ estimates was examined. Analysis found that caregivers were unable to predict accurately prospective changes in overall or specific support needs, nor were they able to report accurately such changes retrospectively. The results of this thesis contribute to the body of knowledge in the relatively new area of support needs assessment in terms of possible predictors of support needs and the assessment of changes in support needs. Recommendations for further research include; investigating some of the personal characteristics found to be predictors of support needs in greater detail and among other disability types, replication of these findings in other samples, and investigating ways to improve caregivers’ capacity to predict changes in support needs accurately. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2008

Over the last 30 years there has been a paradigmatic shift in the field of disabilities towards assessing individual support needs in relation to social and environmental context rather than individual deficits. The capacity of existing assessment instruments to assess support needs is limited because most were designed to assess individual deficits and thereby determine eligibility for funding and/or services. Some instruments have been designed to assess support needs but there are several problems associated with these instruments including, suitability for use in only one disability type, susceptibility to rater bias, and failure to account for variations in support needs over time. This thesis attempted to contribute to addressing these deficiencies by examining the characteristics that are most predictive of support needs for people with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities and the methods by which changes in such support needs could be predicted. Two studies were used to address these aims. The first considered samples of people with primary psychiatric disabilities (N= 561) and intellectual disabilities (N =168), who lived in Supported Residential Facilities. These participants were assessed in regards not only to standard demographic and disability characteristics, and also personal characteristics, including functional abilities, and support needs. The data were analysed using ordinal logistic regression to determine which better predicted support needs and, accordingly, which characteristics were most important to include in the assessment of support needs. Analysis showed that personal characteristics, such as functional abilities such as showering/bathing and budgeting explained much more variance in support needs than either demographics or disability characteristics. This suggests that, for support needs assessments to be accurately assessed, they should include evaluations of these personal characteristics even though they may require more time and resources to obtain than demographic and disability data. The second study in this thesis aimed to investigate whether caregivers could predict changes in support needs over six-month periods accurately. Residents in supported accommodation with a primary psychiatric disability (N = 60; although some attrition among those with psychiatric disabilities), or primary intellectual disability (N = 57) and their caregivers were involved in this study. Caregivers were interviewed on three occasions at six-monthly intervals and asked to estimate any changes that they expected to occur in the next six months or that they believed had occurred in the preceding six months. Caregivers were also asked to complete two functional assessments for each resident at the three points in time. The functional assessments were used as the benchmark against which the accuracy of caregivers’ estimates was examined. Analysis found that caregivers were unable to predict accurately prospective changes in overall or specific support needs, nor were they able to report accurately such changes retrospectively. The results of this thesis contribute to the body of knowledge in the relatively new area of support needs assessment in terms of possible predictors of support needs and the assessment of changes in support needs. Recommendations for further research include; investigating some of the personal characteristics found to be predictors of support needs in greater detail and among other disability types, replication of these findings in other samples, and investigating ways to improve caregivers’ capacity to predict changes in support needs accurately. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2008

Utmanande beteende kan ofta innebära aktivitetsinskränkningar för individer som lider av beteendet men även för omgivningen. Detta innebär färre möjligheter till aktivitet och delaktighet och riskerar att gå ut över livskvalitén. Idag saknas ett fokus för att utveckla arbetsterapeutiska metoder inom området och forskningen som finns är begränsad. Syftet med examensarbetet var att visa vilka arbetsterapeutiska metoder som beskrivs i litteraturen för att minska utmanande beteende. Studiedesignen som användes var scoping review. Databaserna som användes var AMED, CINAHL, MEDLINE och PsycINFO. Inklusionskriterier för artiklarna var att de var tillgängliga i fulltext, skrivna på engelska och publicerade mellan 2003 och 2018. Sökning resulterade i 124 träffar varav 13 var dubbletter. Resultatet inkluderade 20 artiklar som motsvarade syftet varav 13 var publicerade i USA. Resultatet visade en stor bredd av metoder som delades in i fyra nyckelområden: aktivitetsbaserade metoder, miljöbaserade metoder, sensoriska metoder samt stöd och strategier. Detta är ett relativt outforskat område där det finns stora möjligheter för arbetsterapeuter att bidra med sin kompetens. / Challenging behaviour often results in occupational limitations for the individual that suffer from the behaviour, but also for their surroundings. This entails reduced possibilities to activity and participation which will affect their quality of life. There is a lack of focus on developing occupational therapeutic methods within this area today, also the current research within the field is limited. The aim of this bachelor thesis was to explore occupational therapeutic methods described in the literature to reduce challenging behaviour. Scoping review was used as study design. In AMED, CINAHL, MEDLINE and Psycinfo were 124 articles found, 13 of these were doublets. The result included 20 articles corresponding to the aim, 13 of these were published in USA. and 20 articles which corresponded to the aim was included in the results. All included articles were available in full text, written in english and published between 2003- 2018. A wide range of methods were shown in the results. These were categorized into four key issues: activity based methods, environmental methods, sensory methods and support and strategies. This field is relatively unexplored and there are large possibilities for occupational therapists to contribute with competence.

This diploma thesis is focused on selected aspects of socialisation of adolescents. It examines natures of interactions of adolescents and adults, emphasises social relations perception and pursues the influence of authority on socialisation processes of this group. The thesis was written in a theoretically-empirical approach, given that the theoretical part clarifies the above-mentioned areas of research. The empirical part, on the other hand, applies the qualitative research design. The respondents group consists of adolescent boys and girls, all of whom are clients of OSPOD (Department of Social and Legal Child Protection) and curators for adolescence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, analysing the issue of relations with individual socialisation variables and their reflection in the curators' point of view. It is assumed, socialisation processes and interactions are conflicting to a certain extent. In respect to their further development, it is necessary to understand these particular development symptoms and their perceptions. The outcome of this research is further elaborated and discussed in accordance to academic resources. At the end of the thesis, further researches as well as interventions regarding work with adolescents who experience socialisation issues are recommended. The...

Magister Artium - MA (Child and Family Studies) / The Management of children, younger than twelve years of age, who pose a risk to other children, remains complex and confusing. When their behaviour includes sexual aggression towards other children, ignorance about how to manage them becomes even more challenging. Society has an expectation that any sexual aggressor should be punished, however, when the aggressor is younger than ten years old, different responses are necessary. The aim of this current study was to explore the management of learners with sexual behaviour problems, within the primary school setting. The main question underpinning this study was: How are children, aged five-to-nine-years, with sexual behaviour problems, managed by social workers and educators? A qualitative methodology, with focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were used to conduct this study. Educators from primary schools, as well as social workers from the Western Cape Education Department, were purposively selected to form the sample for this study. Focus group discussions were conducted with the educators, while semi-structured interviews were conducted with the social workers.

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