Discusses different views of autonomy and suggests cognitive behavioral approaches to help women raise their self-esteem and overcome dependency. Suggests methods for strengthening female autonomy without giving up caring and compassion attributes. (Author/CM)

Compared 135 participants in the Forum, large group awareness training intervention, and 73 comparable peer-nominated controls. Subjects completed detailed questionnaires 4-6 weeks pre- and posttraining and again 18 months later. Short-term outcome analyses revealed that only perceived control was affected by Forum participation; no long-term…

A study compared faculty commitment to their universities with faculty demographic characteristics. Three levels of commitment were found, and four critical issues emerged: autonomy, impersonality, value congruence, and equity. (Author/MSE)

A deaf perspective on success, fulfillment, and autonomy is needed, which calls for accepting every way of being deaf as adequate and valid. Education of children with hearing impairments focuses too much on correcting their disability rather than accommodating their disability and giving them self-esteem and rich, full lives. (JDD)

A 20-week seminar for preservice teachers sought to help each student develop his individual educative and inquiry process of professional development. Students reacted positively to the seminar's focus on students' initiation of their own learning. (CB)

Actions that promote confirmation and empowerment of parents, students, and teachers improve the learning climate. The school principal plays a pivotal role in generating a positive atmosphere that encourages such actions. (IAH)

Calculated Cronbach's alpha coefficients for five recent studies (N=1,723) which used the Manifest Needs Questionnaire (MNQ) to measure needs for achievement, autonomy, affiliation, and dominance. Results showed acceptable levels of internal consistency for achievement and dominance needs. Found support for autonomy and affiliation needs with some…

Outlines a strategy for reporting child abuse or neglect, balancing ethical responsibilities and clinical limit setting. Presented in decision-tree form, strategy is a hierarchy of autonomy-respecting acts offering clients a variety of options for reporting abuse and neglect. (Author)

The hypothesis explored is that autonomy in education and language learning is more significant than the ability to make responsible choices, relating more to exploration of the self-concept and to the realization of personal and group potential. Experiential learning is discussed in this context. (25 references) (Author/LB)

This article reports findings from a comprehensive examination of the self-determination of 408 adults with mental retardation. Analysis of variance identified severity of disability, current living arrangement, and primary caregiver status as predictive of differences in self-determination in this population. (Author/DB)

This article discusses the nature and extent of the problem of sexual abuse in community programs that serve people with mental retardation, as well as differing judicial approaches in assessing their ability to consent to sexual relations. Potential sources of provider liability for harm caused to program participants are explained. (Author/DB)

Curricular activity preference was determined for 3 students (ages 9-15) with moderate intellectual disabilities. Subsequent evaluation of the influence of activity preference on student behavior revealed that preferred activities were associated with reduced levels of problem behavior and increased levels of desirable behaviors. (Author/JDD)

This article examines the importance of self-determination for all people. A national survey of 4,544 adults with mental retardation concerning how independent, integrated, and productive they perceived themselves to be and how important each of these outcomes was to them revealed that people with mental retardation are not likely to be…

Explores the independent contribution of interpersonal relationships, parental attachment, and racial/ethnic identity to traditional-age undergraduate women's autonomy development, removing the effect of biographical correlates. Differences by race/ethnicity and by residence status in relationship to factors of autonomy are investigated.…

This study compared selection of a preferred reinforcing stimulus just prior to a training session by either the trainer or subject with profound developmental disabilities. Results obtained with four adult subjects indicated little or no difference in reinforcement effects when reinforcing stimuli were selected by subjects rather than trainers.…