Background: Antipsychotics are the most frequently prescribed psychotropic medication for people with intellectual disabilities. Many people are prescribed this medication for "challenging behaviours" without having had a formal diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder. Antipsychotics have been reported to have severe side-effect profiles, which can…

Professional services for persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) have begun to attach more importance to their environment. The concept of (family-related) quality of life proved to link very well with this idea and lent itself to constructing and evaluating services. One outcome was the emergence of equal partnerships between families,…

This ethnographic compilation is the result of a course exercise in qualitative research. A current student of Texas Tech University interviewed an 87-year old faculty member from the 1950s, comparing her experiences to those of the author in similar, present-day academic environments. The author developed the format of the paper as letters…

This study examined job satisfaction and job stress across 19 higher education systems. We classified the 19 countries according to their job satisfaction and job stress and applied regression analysis to test whether new public management has impacts on either or both job satisfaction and job stress. According to this study, strong market driven…

Structural explanations of career choice and development are well established. Socioeconomic inequality represents a powerful factor shaping career trajectories and economic outcomes achieved by individuals. However, a robust and growing body of evidence demonstrates a strong link between socioeconomic inequality and health outcomes. Work is a key…

In 2007, New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity launched Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards, an experimental, privately funded, conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to help families break the cycle of poverty. Family Rewards provided payments to low-income families in six of the city's poorest communities for achieving specific goals…

Traditional-age college students face a host of challenges during the transition from home to campus. Perhaps one of the most substantial challenges--one that relates directly to adjustment and quality of life--involves the formation of new relationships, and the awareness, development, and establishment of boundaries between their own emerging…

Recent literature on the psychological adjustment of parents who have children with disabilities suggests that they encounter a range of challenges beyond those experienced by parents of typically developing children (Achiless, G.M., McLaughlin, M J , & Croninger, R.G. 2007; Brown & Pacini, 1989). This is particularly true when a special…

The purpose of this study is to describe the perceptions held by selected community leaders about the role of the community college and the community college president in connecting with and serving the needs of the community. These leaders' perceptions and views are compared to the documented missions of the colleges selected for study. Six rural…

This dissertation study was a descriptive case study of a minority community service organization whose members were actively involved in local school decision-making and activities in a rural Northeast Georgia community. Rural schools face unique challenges in light of current educational trends. To address the challenges, rural schools must…

The "Green Classroom" in Ulm is an experiential learning forum outside school. Its educational concept is based on experimental learning and is geared towards expanding biological knowledge and developing environmental attitudes regarding preservation and utilisation of nature. We assessed the environmental attitude of 92 students before…

Introduction: This study raises the need to promote family-centered intervention approaches, aimed toward improving the family's quality of life, the empowerment of all its members, and the development of self-determination skills. Method: To this end, we review the studies on intellectual disabilities, self-determination and family-centered…

Caregivers of individuals with disabilities in the United States have been reported to experience additional hardships than families with typical children as they attempt to balance family and work (Parish, Rose, Grinstein-Weiss, Richman, & Andrews, 2008). In this study, 31 caregivers of individuals with intellectual disabilities from the…

Analyzing data from the 2007 Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Inequality Survey, I identify and compare the determinants of economic justice attitudes in two formerly similar majority-Muslim nations that are now distinguished almost exclusively by their dissimilar economic circumstances following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In Kazakhstan, where the…

Background: Even though there is research demonstrating a positive relationship between leisure participation and the two constructs of quality of life and stress reduction, current conceptualisation of leisure as a contributor to quality of life is limited. In addition, in spite of improvements in accurate diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder…