Federal policies and laws as well as research in the area of self-determination have encouraged meaningful student involvement in the IEP process for over twenty years. Active student involvement in the IEP process allows for students to practice important self-determination skills in an applied setting and to be meaningful participants in their education. The purpose of this literature review is to establish what constitutes meaningful student involvement in the IEP process and identify evidence-based practices for increasing meaningful student involvement. / text

Burnout and staff turnover among correctional officers can be the result of low well-being. These are problems that can be devastating for both the individual, his or her colleagues, the inmates and the organization if not prevented. Well-being among correctional officers is an important and well-researched subject. However, the majority of all studies are made in American prisons, and very few consider jail specifically. Jails are often smaller workplaces than prisons in terms of number of employees, which makes them more exposed to staff turnover. In addition, they have difficulty competing with other organizations in terms of high salary and other benefits, and must therefore invest extra hard in a healthy work environment that promotes well-being among their employees. This study is based on a web survey and made in about half of all jails in Sweden. The purpose is to explore, with support of the Self-Determination Theory, how correctional officers in jail are experiencing well-being at work, and if there may be any correlation between perceived well-being and individual factors. The results show that the well-being are generally good, although some weaker aspects are identified, such as percieved autonomy. No significant differences between men and women were found when it comes to work related well-being. Factors that, on the other hand, seems to have a slight impact on the perceived well-being is tenure, education and age.

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Thesis advisor: Lisa Patel / The participatory project described here is framed by the theories of Tribal Critical Race Theory and Red Pedagogy and describes a series of focus groups that included six Mashpee Wampanoag community members who used cultural values that they identified themselves to outline the educational needs of their Tribal youth in order to contribute to the process of developing a culturally-based strategic plan to serve Tribal students. The project was an act of self-determination for the participants who chose to commit to the work of making positive changes for the future of their community in a way that only they could as insiders in their community. Participants compiled a list of skills they felt were necessary to the health and success of their young people, separated into categories of "life skills," "academic skills" and "traditional skills." Also discussed are issues of insider research in Tribal communities, Indigenous connections land, Tribal identity, and aboriginal rights. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis is an inquiry into the possibility of Aboriginal autonomy under the regime of a state policy which commands self determination. Debate about policy has been dominated by Western scientific, political and professional knowledge, which is challenged by indigenous paradigms grounded in the Dreaming. A recognition of the role of paradox leads me to an attempt at reconciliation between the old and the new Australian intellectual traditions. The thesis advances the theory of internal colonialism by identifying self-determination as its current phase. During more than 200 years of colonial history the relationship between Aborigines and the state has been increasingly contradictory. The current policy of self-determination is a political paradox. Aboriginal people must either conform to the policy by disobeying it, or reject the policy in obedience to it. Through the policy of self-determination the state constructs a relationship of dependent autonomy with Aboriginal people. In a two-year (1994-95) action research project Kitya Aboriginal Health Action Group was set up to empower a local community to establish an Aboriginal health service despite opposition from the Government Health Service. In collaboration with local general practitioners and volunteers the action group opened a health centre. After the end of formal field work government funding and support for the health service was granted. The project illustrated the paradox of dependent autonomy. What appeared as successful community development was not development, and what appeared as destructive factionalism was empowering. Strategies for change made use of contradictions and paradoxes within the state. As an innovation in the practice of social change, the thesis begins the construction of a model for indigenous community action for self-determination in health.

The nature of human well-being has been debated in psychological research since the beginning of the study of human behaviour. Mechanistic perspectives regard humans to be independent objects motivated by external contingencies, with needs to be both self sufficient and self-enhancing. Organismic perspectives describe humans as having innate self-organisational tendencies, which partly depend on qualities of relationships with others. Basic needs for well-being include being self-determined and socially integrated. Both perspectives claim empirical support. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the present study proposed that basic needs for well-being include autonomy and relatedness, and ego-defensive needs that undermine health include independence, control and narcissism. To compare the effects of different needs on well-being, the present study measured people's perceived needs and the satisfaction of those needs, within the context of interpersonal interactions. Participants were sourced from the student population at a Melbourne university (N = 82), and various internet website forums (N= 171). Included were 82 participants who had received a diagnosis of social anxiety in the past two years. A new measure, the Interpersonal Needs Scale (INS) was developed to tap the strength of values for the five needs of interest, and the degree to which needs are satisfied. Factor analysis on the INS produced four value subscales: these were named Authenticity and Belonging, comprising autonomy and relatedness items, and Independence and Narcissism, both including Control items. The fmal version of the INS showed satisfactory reliability and validity. Results for Study 1 indicated that for the present sample, Authenticity and Belonging values were associated with overall interpersonal need satisfaction and with well-being. Conversely, Independence and Narcissistic values were associated with dissatisfaction of interpersonal needs and compromised well-being. For Study 2, cluster analysis was used to group participants according to their INS profiles: that is, similarities in their perceived needs and their degree of satisfaction of needs. In line with predictions, the groups included: the Selfother Balanced (N = 42), who reported significantly greater values for authenticity and belonging over independence and narcissism, and overall need satisfaction; the Slightly Lonely (N = 53), who reported similar value ranking but some dissatisfaction of needs; the Satisfied Narcissists (N = 45), who reported high values for ego-defensive needs and satisfaction of narcissistic needs only; the Needy Narcissists (N= 81), who also reported high values for ego-defensive needs but high overall need dissatisfaction; and the Individualists (N = 27), who reported low values for belonging and unsatisfied independence needs. The characteristics of each group were analysed and compared with each other according to a range of self-concept measures (autonomous-self, relational self, independent-self, and narcissistic personality), indicators of psychological wellbeing (depression, anxiety, stress, and self-esteem), and social well-being (alienation). The Self-other Balanced group reported the highest well-being scores and a predominantly autonomous self-concept, while those who reported low values for belonging needs (Individualists), and those who reported the least satisfaction of interpersonal needs (Needy Narcissists), reported the most compromised well-being. A large proportion of respondents with social anxiety belonged to the latter group. The implications of these results for understanding the impact of values and the satisfaction of interpersonal needs on well-being were discussed.

Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985), the motivation of sports coaches and the development of the Coach Motivation Questionnaire (CMQ) are the subject of this thesis. Motivation contributes to the way in which people think, feel, and act, and is therefore a central issue in the study of psychology (Ryan & Deci, 2000b). The motivational sequence (Vallerand, 1997) suggests that coaches’ motivations influence their behaviours, which subsequently have an effect on their athletes’ perceptions of the motivational climate. In the sport domain, the coach-athlete relationship is one of the most important influences on athletes’ motivation and subsequent performance (Mageau & Vallerand, 2003). Nevertheless, while there is much research concentrating on the impact of coaching behaviours on athletes’ perceptions and performance, little thought seems to have been given to the coaches’ needs themselves (Mageau & Vallerand, 2003). Following previous work with athletes (e.g., Frederick-Recascino & Schuster-Smith, 2003), the motives and motivational styles of coaches should be related to how they behave within the coaching environment (Frederick & Morrison, 1999). In other words, why coaches coach should influence how coaches coach. The present investigation was conducted to further research and understanding of coach motivation. In the pursuit of this aim, the following three studies were conducted. In Study 1, the motivation of Australian coaches was examined, with a view to informing the development of a valid measurement tool. Employing a qualitative methodology, 13 coaches from different sports and levels of competition participated in semi-structured interviews. Inductive content analysis of the interview transcripts yielded four key dimensions: (a) connection with sport, (b) coach and athlete development, (c) external influences, and (d) internal motives. Overall, SDT appeared to be a useful lens for understanding the data and the existence of multiple forms of motivation were discussed. Study 2 involved the development and pilot testing of a pool of potential items for the CMQ. These items reflected each of the six forms of motivation as conceptualised in SDT, and were designed to be broad and applicable to a wide range of coaches and coaching scenarios. Coaches (N = 86) completed the extended version of the CMQ online, and were requested to respond to two open-ended questions designed to gauge the face validity and general clarity of the questionnaire content. Results suggested that motivation factors were internally consistent, however empirical and qualitative feedback suggested the adaptation of one item for conceptual clarity and the removal of a second item resulting in the CMQ-41. The psychometric properties of the CMQ were examined in Study 3. Coaches (N = 556) completed an online questionnaire package that included the CMQ and measures of psychological needs, goal orientation, and well-being. Examination using CFA produced a 22-item measure with good model fit. Further evaluation produced preliminary evidence for the scale’s validity and reliability. The implications of these results for researchers and practitioners are discussed. Directions for research concerning coach motivation, SDT, and the coach-athlete performance relationship are also highlighted.

This study investigated the perceived locus of causality of motivation in high school football players. The Sports Motivation Scale (SMS) was used to study seven motivation subscales (IM to know, IM to accomplish, IM stimulation, EM identified, EM introjected, EM external and Amotivation) with respect to motivation among high school football players. This indicated that IM to know, IM to accomplish, EM identified and EM introjected were the best predictors of the participants? perceived locus of causality of motivation. The results indicate that when using perceived locus of causality for motivation, position played could be predicted 62 percent of the time. The study also speculates on ways in which communication could be used to affect motivation.

Feedback sign (positive, negative, or no feedback sign) and feedback style (autonomous, controlling, or no feedback style) were manipulated in a 3x3 repeated measures design. Two hundred thirty-three undergraduate students from introductory psychology classes completed measures of perceived competence, perceived choice, and interest over four time periods. Interest was regressed on perceived competence, perceived choice, and a moderation analysis revealed that perceived choice moderated the effect of perceived competence on interest. Creative answers to open-ended problems were assessed after time 2 (before feedback), and after time 3 (after feedback). Feedback style (autonomous, controlled, and neutral) and Feedback sign (positive, negative, and neutral) manipulations were analyzed using a 3x3 ANOVA, revealing no effect of feedback. Post-hoc analyses using perceived difficulty of the first creative problem as a covariate revealed an interaction of feedback style and difficulty, limiting between subjects analyses. Creativity was also regressed on interest. Pre-feedback interest predicted creativity according to expectations, but post-feedback interest did not predict creativity. Creativity did predict post-performance interest, possibly implying that interest is not a valid proxy for intrinsic motivation in within-subjects designs. Future studies should test the proposition that feedback affects intrinsic motivation, which in turn affects creative performance, and creative performance affects interest.