Derived a representative national nursing home admissions cohort with 1977 survey data. Found that high proportions of admissions have short lengths of stay and are discharged within the same calendar year. (Author/RC)

Recently admitted nursing home residents received a battery of psychological tests and were rated on a number of behavioral indices. Results revealed the morale/anxiety dimension was independent of cognitive competency, internally controlled residents were rated high by others in behavioral competency, and self-rating scales measure something…

Hypothesized that internal locus of control would correlate with global self-esteem, physical self-concept, and lower physician-rated disability. Both hypotheses were partially supported. Internality correlated with greater educational attainment, externality with greater length of stay in the institution. (Author/DB)

Studied the issue of meeting people's basic needs as a key to preventing unnecessary or prolonged institutionalization. Results indicate when basic needs for money, housing, and medical care are met, institutionalized people consider independent living arrangements, and needs for personal social services are mentioned less frequently. (Author)

This essay explores the scientific research and the ideological principles behind the controversy over deinstitutionalization. References are made to the effects of institutionalization and the failure of communities to organize and provide adequate services for normalization. (EB)

Measured the attitudes toward the elderly and toward mental illness and ways of evoking attitude change using persuasive communication and autotelic inquiry treatment. No differences were found in attitudes toward old people but a difference in opinions about mental illness was found in autotelic-inquiry subjects. (Author)

The article describes events which have challenged the legitimacy of state schools for the mentally retarded. It notes the development of new legitimating myths to justify institutional existence, and describes how institutional administrators and standard bearers manage relations with and field criticism from the outside world. (SB)

Effects of sensorimotor training on intelligence and adaptive skills of 40 profoundly retarded adult residents of a state institution were investigated during a six-month intensive training program. (Author)

It was found that Ss in all conditions showed significant pretest to post-test performance increases on the telephone skills tasks--suggesting that, for skill development tasks with retarded adults, demonstration and verbal summaries may add little to the practice experience and that group delivery of training procedures is cost-effective.…

A neuropsychological assessment stressing lateralized perceptual-motor and cogntive abilities was administered in two groups of hospitalized psychiatric patients (8 to 17 years old), 25 schizophrenics, and 25 nonpsychotics. The results supported the hypothesis that there may be left hemisphere dysfunction in schizophrenia; however, no single…

The Missouri Children's Picture Series, a nonverbal objective personality test, was administered to 119 normal elementary children and 77 institutionalized aggressive adolescents. Several of the test scales, particularly the aggression and maturity scales, differentiated significantly between the groups. IQ related to test scores only for the…

A senior center activities program was made accessible to nursing home patients through a project called Centercare. Nursing home patients (N=144) from seven different institutions made 4370 senior center visits over a 33-month period. Project results indicate a senior center can successfully provide the institutionalized elderly with social and…

When 69 young adults who had been incarcerated as youth were interviewed, 26 gave histories of abuse discrepant with data from records and interviews conducted in adolescence. In clarification interviews with 11 subjects, it was found that all had been abused despite either their adolescent records or follow-up interviews being discrepant.…

Examines institutionalization and marginalization in the context of the history of education. Contends marginality is a fluctuating concept. Introduces the concept of an intermediary zone between marginality and normal life defined as the area of fragile existence. Argues that studying the history of marginality can help researchers investigate…

Discusses the findings of a national survey of public libraries that focused on service to older adults. Areas discussed include services most frequently provided, services to the institutionalized, the impact of ageism on library policies, and the extent of cooperation with other agencies. (18 references) (CLB)