Thesis (M.S. in nursing)--Washington State University, May 2010. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 17, 2010). College of Nursing." Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-59).

Research suggests college students with high incidence disabilities experience more distress than their peers without disabilities as they adapt to college. The expressive writing paradigm developed by Pennebaker and Beall (1986) effectively reduced distress in college students and other nonclinical samples when participants wrote about emotions they experienced surrounding an upsetting event. Previous research on expressive writing has not addressed the effectiveness of the paradigm with students with disabilities. A randomized control trial study examined changes in distress and daily hassles for participants with disabilities who engaged in expressive writing compared to a control condition in which participants wrote about non-emotional topics. Emotional competencies and coping were also explored as possible proximal outcomes, while distress at baseline and social support were explored as possible moderators of expressive writing outcomes. Fifty seven students, 51% male and mostly European-American (83.6%), from a large, public university and a local community college both in the Southeastern United States, wrote for 15 minutes on three consecutive days on their own personal computers, with assessment at pre-test, post-test and 30-day follow-up. Expressive writing did not significantly decrease stress or daily hassles, nor did treatment condition differ from the control condition on any of the factors examined. Discussion of participant factors explored possible ceiling effects due to low baseline distress scores and possible limitations related to employing a sample of students with disabilities who are currently receiving college-level support services. Other methodological and procedural issues were also discussed as they relate to best expressive writing practices as well as meeting the needs of students with disabilities. For example, although use of the computer for writing was deemed important for this group of participants, longer writing sessions that may be necessary to impact psychological outcomes could be difficult for students with disabilities. Future directions include qualitative analysis of writing samples in order to develop areas of concern for this population, beginning and ending expressive writing to align with the college academic calendar, as well as use of a control group without disabilities in order to control for baseline levels of distress. This document was created in Microsoft Word 2003.

The significance of reading is undoubted today, while learning to read efficiently is a main aim of every educational system. Reading is one of the greatest challenges that pupils, students and adults have to encounter daily at school, university and professional life, especially dyslexics, for whom it is a really hard and demanding process. Given the importance of reading and the various factors can positively or negatively influence the reading ability, the current study aims to investigate to what extent the reading process is affected a) by familiarity with text, and b) by biological-constitutional factors. In this respect, the reading performance a) of Greek language teachers was compared to that of 12th grade pupils, and b) of adult dyslexic students to that of age-matched normal controls in terms of reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. The reading performance of teachers and pupils was evaluated in an Ancient Greek text and its corresponding translation in Modern Greek. The reading performance of adult dyslexics and controls was evaluated in 2 texts of varying difficulty and a list of words of raising difficulty. Participants read both aloud and silently, while being timed and tape- recorded for further analysis. After reading each text, they answered to reading comprehension questions. Pupils made significantly more reading errors compared to teachers in both Ancient (p < .001) and Modern Greek (p <.05). However, they were significantly faster than teachers in all reading procedures (p < .001), while they did not lack in comprehension (p > .05). Both groups made similar reading errors in both Ancient and Modern Greek. Finally, comparing the two languages, both teachers and pupils were significantly faster (p < .001), comprehended better (p < .001) and were more accurate (p < .05) in Modern Greek. Adult dyslexic students were significantly slower (p < .001), attained lower level of comprehension (p < .05) and made significantly more reading errors (p < .001) than the control group in all reading procedures. In contrast to non-dyslexics who read significantly faster silently (p < .05), dyslexics read at almost the same rate in both aloud and silent condition (p > .05). Additionally, the former attained higher level of comprehension in the silent condition, as opposed to the latter, who showed a trend to comprehend better aloud. Comparing reading in context and out of context, dyslexics made significantly more reading errors in the word list (p < .001), whereas non-dyslexics made comparable reading errors in the word list and the two passages (p > .05). Both groups made similar reading errors. Finally, logistic regression analysis revealed that the 2 groups could be almost perfectly differentiated based on only one variable, namely reading speed (classification accuracy 98.1%). Findings confirmed that the reading process in the phonologically consistent Greek language is influenced by factors, such as language structure and familiarity with print as well as by biological-constitutional factors. Results emphasise on the importance of daily extensive reading practice for a better reading speed, at least, which is essential not only for normal-achieving population but dyslexic readers as well, since reading speed was found to be the latter’s main deficit and the main differentiating factor between dyslexics and controls. The results may be useful for effectively addressing the difficulties encountered not only by pupils who are taught but also by teachers who teach Ancient and Modern Greek, as they may lead to new teaching methods and learning strategies. Also, results might be helpful for the accurate diagnosis of adult dyslexics based on reading speed, as well as for the effective treatment of the difficulties dyslexic university students still encounter, due to their constitutional reading deficit.

This research is an exploratory study of the issues and problems encountered by Young People with multiple disabilities when they leave school and for whom formal post-school service provision is relevant within the Scottish setting. The research problem is tackled by a qualitative and an empirically grounded study with a central focus was on the way in which decisions about the nature and range of services are made and their potential for making a major impact on quality of life. From conception, the study was innovatory and it was necessary to combine methods of data collection and to analyse in ways that had previously not been used in the field. The design and methods are eclectic with an emphasis on in-depth case-studies. The research process began with the development of a functional classification used to define the sub-population. This was followed by an investigation of the structure and organisation of the Future Needs Assessment process which is central to the planning of formal post-school provision. together with Carer perspectives and opinions of the process. The next phase was to examine the nature and range of formal post-school service provision in relation to the issue of quality of life and in the meeting of developmental needs. Discussion then took place with the Young People and the Carers about their judgements of post-school provision and 'ideal' provision. The final phase developed recommendations on the practical application of, the research findings. The major research findings, derived from the fieldwork evidence. indicate that there is a radical change in emphasis in the transition from school to adult-based formal service provision which result in the limitation of services and of personal choice. There is a major disjunction in the quality of life experienced by the Young People. The Future Needs Assessment process fails to adequately plan for the transition to formal post-school provision which fails to meet individual personal and social development. The major recommendations, derived from the research, state that the Future Needs Assessment process must play a more effective role in identifying the post-school needs of the School-leavers to ensure that formal post-school provision and delivery planning is individually-centred and 'needs-led'. In addition, there should be greater choice of provision which follows the 'independent /enabling /empowering model and which will offer the School leaver the potential to experience a high quality of life.

In today's climate of consumer consultation in the development of client sensitive hospital and community based services, some voices have remained silent. Among this group are disabled children and young people, who receive professional care in a climate of 'in their best interest', firmly based on notions of abnormality and the inherent tragedy of disability. New paradigm childhood research and the social model of disability provide the theoretical framework for this qualitative study into the health and health care experiences of disabled children and young people. Both approaches demand a flexible and participatory approach in order to challenge the traditional relations of research production. Twenty young people aged 9-18 years met with the researcher up to four times, with a choice after the initial meeting of individual or group meetings. All had a physical disability, some also had communication or learning difficulties. Conversations with the young people covered a range of topics. The obvious ones related to hospitals, appointments, splints and therapy. About what it is like having a carer. Commonly held assumptions that hospitalisation is a significant feature of disabled childhoods is challenged by the data, appointments however reflect an ongoing surveillance. The young people spoke of experiences of empowerment and of powerlessness within a triad of parent:professional:young person. Concern that many treatments are an experiment and that outcomes are hard to balance with the pain and inconvenience of surgery or therapeutic devices raises questions regarding professional versus young person's definitions of success. It also demands debate regarding how much remedial intervention is enough. This is a difficult issue in a medical and social climate that idealises normality, but normality is not often an option. Health care constitutes only a narrow perspective of health and made up only a part of the discussion. It is the day to day health experiences that are more prominent in the lives of participants than intermittent professional services. The young people showed a recognition of factors that contributed to their health and sense of well being. Commonly the talk was about living in a world that considers them as different and the effect that has on them. These young people are making links between racism and their own disability experience, however they have no contact with disabled adults, some with no other disabled young people and no understanding of disability history or politics. This lack became even more evident when the participants talked about who understands what their life is like, of role models, realistic aspirations and dreams for quiet moments. School issues raised concerns such as equity in access, being different, having to prove oneself, limited school sport involvement and issues of friendship and teasing. One very powerful finding is that just like anyone else they are all different but that stereotypes of disability limit the lives of disabled young people and influence the responses of other people to them. This demanded from the researcher an interaction with the different experiences and responses to experiences of participants or risk creating another, albeit different stereotype. / thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2001.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate how augmental rules placed in a workplace setting can increase staff data collection. The agencies included residential settings and day programs for adults with disabilities. The residential settings and day programs are designed to prepare adults to function and live in various settings by promoting independence in daily living, social integration, responsible decision making, and economic self-sufficiency. This study utilized a between group analysis of 25 experimental subjects and a quasi-randomized control group to evaluate the influence of augmental rules to increase data collection behaviors by staff. The results of this study showed that the inclusion of augmental rules resulted in a significant increase in staff data collection compared to the control group (p value of .001)

Employment is an important goal for many individuals with disabilities. Research indicates that behavioral techniques are effective in increasing task completion of individuals with disabilities in vocational training settings. Yet, limited research has examined the use of self-monitoring for increasing task completion of adults with disabilities receiving vocational training for future employment. Furthermore, few studies have focused on promoting the maintenance of improved vocational task completion among this population. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to extend the literature by examining the impact of self-monitoring on independent correct vocational task completion of four adults with disabilities within a vocational training setting. The results indicated that across participants the levels of their target vocational task completion performance remained low during baseline, even with repeated exposure. During the intervention there was immediate level changes for all participants, three out of four reaching 3 or more consecutive sessions with 100%. During the maintenance follow-up their performance levels still remained higher than baseline with minor decline trends compared to intervention. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

No description available.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Colgate Rochester Divinity School/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 213-225).

Submitted by Morgana Andrade (morgana.andrade@ufes.br) on 2016-03-24T17:33:19Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) tese_8185_Renata Imaculada - Tese doutorado.pdf: 1116194 bytes, checksum: 83bd3eb1f817dda426806d327cfa251f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Patricia Barros (patricia.barros@ufes.br) on 2016-06-07T17:44:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) tese_8185_Renata Imaculada - Tese doutorado.pdf: 1116194 bytes, checksum: 83bd3eb1f817dda426806d327cfa251f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-07T17:44:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) tese_8185_Renata Imaculada - Tese doutorado.pdf: 1116194 bytes, checksum: 83bd3eb1f817dda426806d327cfa251f (MD5) / Este estudo investiga o percurso escolar de jovens com deficiência e transtorno global do desenvolvimento (TGD) a fim de evidenciar aspectos que possam ter contribuído para o surgimento de processos de compensação sociopsicológica que promovem aprendizagem e desenvolvimento em sua vida acadêmica e profissional. Baseia-se na tese de que o trabalho em prol de um estágio diferenciado de consciência, necessário à formação humana num patamar mais elevado, de alunos com deficiência e TGD, pode ser alcançado pela recuperação de suas histórias de vida e suas narrativas a respeito das experiências de escolarização e das mediações vivenciadas junto a profissionais, familiares e alunos, levando à processos de compensação sóciopsicológicas. Adota a abordagem histórico-cultural como aporte teórico, prioritariamente os estudos de Vigotski, que ajudam a compreender a constituição da subjetividade dos jovens com deficiência e TGD e a prospecção de suas vidas como profissionais tendo como foco os processos de compensação social a partir da investigação de seus percursos escolares. Simultaneamente, enfoca os estudos de Walter Benjamin sobre a filosofia da história para compreender a escrita do passado, a memória, o tempo histórico, a narrativa, entre outros aspectos. Define como sujeitos de estudo três jovens, alunos da educação profissional e tecnológica do Instituto Federal de Educação Profissional e Tecnológica do Espírito Santo, matriculados em diferentes campi: uma aluna com diagnóstico de TGD associado à psicose, um aluno surdo e um aluno com autismo, cada um, em sua especificidade, narrando sua história de vida desde a infância até o momento presente, com enfoque em situações vividas no percurso escolar, relações com a família, imagens de si e da deficiência e expectativas para o futuro profissional. Considera como categorias de análise as lembranças da infância, os aspectos do percurso escolar que predominam nos discursos dos sujeitos, a inclusão na educação profissional, as marcas de si nas relações com o Outro e pistas para pensar a inclusão escolar, com base nas histórias contadas que evidenciam processos de compensação sociopsicológicos. Com base nas histórias de vida dos sujeitos pesquisados, conclui que, mesmo diante dos dilemas e das dificuldades vivenciadas por eles em sua trajetória escolar, a aprendizagem da pessoa com deficiência e TGD é possível porque eles conseguem ingressar e permanecer na escola regular. Conclui também que as condições socioeconômicas e o apoio da família se constituem em um fator que muito contribui para que esses sujeitos, cada um ao seu modo, possam ter acesso à escola e nela permanecer, bem como atingir processos de compensação sociopsíquicas.