Personal Factors, Living Environments, and Specialized Supports: Their Role in the Self-Determination of People with Intellectual Disability.

The self-determination of people with disabilities, and specifically people with intellectual disabilities (ID), is a growing issue due to its relevance in the field of inclusion and human rights. Although research has shown a significant relationship between self-determination and intelligence, other factors also contribute to its development. The purpose of this study was to understand what other variables may be influencing self-determination. Using the scores from 483 adolescents and adults with ID who completed the AUTODDIS scale, we performed inferential and regression analyses to determine the relationships between levels of self-determination, personal variables (sex, age, severity of ID), and contextual variables (living environment, specialized supports). We found that self-determination is affected by the severity of ID, and when this variable is controlled for, greater self-determination is mainly related to receiving occupational support and support for autonomy and independent living. Results also showed that, together with ID severity, occupational and psychoeducational support, as well as support for autonomy and independent living, were also predictors of the level of self-determination. In conclusion, this study confirms the importance of contextual variables in the development of self-determination in people with ID, placing the focus of intervention on social opportunities.

Assessment of self-determination in mental health: A new application field of the AUTODDIS scale.

OBJECTIVE: Self-determination enhances well-being and quality of life. It is also considered a fundamental pillar in improving the efficacy of interventions used to treat people with severe mental disorders (SMD). Yet the assessment of self-determination in relation to mental health requires further research. The aim of this study was to analyze the adequacy and psychometric properties of the AUTODDIS scale in a Spanish population with SMD. METHOD: The scale was originally developed and validated to assess self-determination in people with intellectual disability. The scale was administered to a sample of 333 adults with SMD (M = 47.6 years, SD = 11.68), most of whom were receiving treatment in an outpatient setting or at long-stay care facilities in six specialized centers in Spain. RESULTS: The quality of the items and the reliability of the scale and its subscales were analyzed. External validity was also explored, and confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyze the fit of the data to different models. The results indicate that the scale demonstrated sufficient evidence of reliability and validity, supporting the adequacy of its use in the field of mental health. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The use of this scale as a tool to assess self-determination and its domains in the mental health field is warranted. The article also discusses the need for more research and assessment tools to facilitate decision making by clinical and organizational stakeholders in promoting self-determination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-Determination in People with Intellectual Disability: The Mediating Role of Opportunities.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have proclaimed the basic right of people to make one's own choices, have an effective participation and inclusion. Research in the field of disability have stressed self-determination as a key construct because of its impact on their quality of life and the achievement of desired educational and adulthood related outcomes. Self-determination development must be promoted through specific strategies and especially, by providing tailored opportunities to practice those skills. Providing these opportunities across environments could be especially relevant as a facilitator of self-determination development. This manuscript aims to ascertain if opportunities at home and in the community to engage in self-determined actions are mediating the relationship between people intellectual disability level and their self-determination. Results have confirmed direct effects of intellectual disability level on self-determination scores. Indirect effects also predicted self-determination and almost all its related components (self-initiation, self-direction, self-regulation, self-realization, and empowerment) through opportunities in the community and at home. Autonomy was predicted by the intellectual disability level through an indirect effect of opportunities at home, but not in the community. These results highlight the need for further research to better operationalize and promote contextually rooted opportunities for people with intellectual disability to become more self-determined.

Entrenamiento para la mejora de disfunciones atencionales en niños y adolescentes con Síndrome de Asperger a través de estimulación cognitiva directa / Training to improve attentional dysfunction in children and adolescents with Asperger Syndrome through direct cognitive stimulation

Esta investigación analiza la capacidad de generalización del aprendizaje en niños y adolescentes con Síndrome de Asperger a aspectos cognitivos atencionales con demandas diferentes a las ejercitadas mediante la utilización de un programa de estimulación cognitiva directa. La muestra estuvo constituida por 15 casos con Síndrome de Asperger entre 7 y 15 años (M = 12; DT = 2.7) con dificultades atencionales, medidas a través de instrumentos de orientación psicométrica, a los que se aplicó un programa de entrenamiento en atención dos horas semanales durante seis meses consecutivos. Los resultados del análisis pretest-postest mostraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en todos los subsistemas atencionales. En atención selectiva las diferencias son de magnitud moderada en las variables relacionadas con la velocidad de procesamiento, en mantenida el tiempo de reacción disminuyó considerablemente (magnitud de la diferencia moderada) y aumentaron los aciertos disminuyendo los errores (ambos con una magnitud de diferencia grande). En atención alternante se observó un mayor número de aciertos, y en dividida se obtuvieron mayores niveles de respuestas totales (los dos de magnitud moderada). Se concluye que el rendimiento atencional en los casos analizados mejora tras la aplicación de un programa de entrenamiento cognitivo específico siendo capaces de generalizar el aprendizaje a medidas psicométricas

This research analyzes the generalization ability of learning in children and adolescents with Asperger Syndrome to attentional cognitive aspects with different demands on exercised through the use of a direct cognitive stimulation program. The sample consisted of 15 cases with Asperger between 7 and 15 years (M = 12, SD = 2.7) with attentional difficulties, measured by psychometric orientation instruments, to which an attention training program was implemented to two hours per week for six consecutive months. The results of the pretest-posttest analysis showed statistically significant differences in all attentional subsystems. Selective attention differences are moderate in variables related to processing speed, in sustained attention the reaction time significantly decreased (moderate magnitude of the difference) and increased the successes reducing errors (both with a large magnitude difference) . In alternating attention, a greater number of successes were observed and in split attention higher levels of total responses (both moderate magnitude) were obtained. It is concluded that the attentional performance in the cases analyzed improvement after applying a cognitive training program specifically being able to generalize learning psychometric measures