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American Journal of Community Psychology Dec 2016In this paper, the authors discussed the nexus between the Americans with Disabilities Act and the founding of the field of Community Psychology. Contributions of the... (Review)
Review
In this paper, the authors discussed the nexus between the Americans with Disabilities Act and the founding of the field of Community Psychology. Contributions of the latter and future areas of research are reviewed here in three areas of importance to both fields: Community living and participation, employment, and transition from high school. Community psychology can make potential contributions to advancing research in these three areas. Implications for future research are discussed.
Topics: Disabled Persons; Forecasting; Health Services Accessibility; Human Rights; Humans; Minority Groups; Power, Psychological; Psychology, Social; Research; Social Work; United States
PubMed: 27287087
DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12064 -
Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation Mar 2016This purpose of this article is to review of the trends of research that examined positive psychology constructs in the context of adapting to chronic illness and... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
This purpose of this article is to review of the trends of research that examined positive psychology constructs in the context of adapting to chronic illness and disability (CID). This article examines the empirical findings on the relationships between six selected positive psychology-associated constructs (optimism, hope, resilience, benefit-finding, meaning-making, and post-traumatic growth) and adaptation to disability.
METHODS
Six positive psychology constructs were selected to represent the trends found in recent literature published on CID. The process of choosing these six variables included reviewing chapters on positive psychology and CID, reviewing the top rehabilitation journals that typically publish articles on psychosocial adaptation to CID, using search engines to find relevant journal articles published since the year 2000, and selecting the most important constructs based on the authors’ professional judgment.
CONCLUSION
The available evidence supports the unique benefits of these six positive psychology constructs in predicting successful adaptation to a range of disabling conditions. Based on the available findings, the authors offer four suggestions for occupational rehabilitation researchers.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Chronic Disease; Disabled Persons; Humans; Psychological Techniques; Rehabilitation Research; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 26283187
DOI: 10.1007/s10926-015-9598-x -
Rehabilitation Nursing : the Official... 1997Chronic disability is a major health problem in this country. Many diseases, illnesses, and accidents result in chronic physical or emotional disability. The National... (Review)
Review
Chronic disability is a major health problem in this country. Many diseases, illnesses, and accidents result in chronic physical or emotional disability. The National Head Injury Foundation reports that 700,000 people annually will require some hospitalization after motor vehicle accidents alone. Of these, 50,000 to 90,000 will never completely return to their previous lifestyles. Thousands more will have to make adjustments to disabilities as a result of other injuries or medical complications. Regardless of its severity or cause, a disability of any sort frequently presents a major adjustment problem for the patient.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Disabled Persons; Grief; Humans; Nursing Assessment; Patient Education as Topic; Rehabilitation Nursing; Social Support
PubMed: 9110841
DOI: 10.1002/j.2048-7940.1997.tb02069.x -
Current Problems in Pediatrics Jan 1995The pediatrician treating a child with a disability must focus not only on the physical needs of the child but also on the emotional and social issues associated with... (Review)
Review
The pediatrician treating a child with a disability must focus not only on the physical needs of the child but also on the emotional and social issues associated with being disabled in our society. This dual focus becomes increasingly important as the child matures through adolescence and transitions into adulthood. In addition, the pediatrician must understand the complex interrelationships between the family and their maturing, disabled child during the vital process of separation from the family. This transition is particularly difficult for an adolescent who is dependent on others for physical care and other independent living skills. Many of the transitional problems faced by disabled adolescents and their parents have roots in early childhood. With an awareness of the specific stressors on the parent caregivers and an understanding of the influence of disability on the developmental processes, the pediatrician can play a major role in easing the transition of a disabled adolescent into adulthood. By guiding the parents of a young child through the important tasks of childhood and adolescence, the pediatrician can set the stage for both the parents and their disabled child to have independent, yet supportive lives--lives that are focused not on the disability but on mutual respect and life satisfaction. It is recommended that disabled teens and young adults be given more help in independence skills, personal counseling services should be made available, and physicians should give teens age-appropriate information about disabilities. There are needs for sex education, preparation for parenthood, and genetic counseling. Other issues that should be addressed are early vocational awareness, alternatives to work, and leisure time use. Just because an adolescent is disabled, we cannot assume that he or she will have self-esteem and self-concept difficulties. To adjust to being devalued by society, the disabled person must challenge societal beliefs that strength, independence, and appearance are the essential aspects of a quality life. The importance of being kind, intelligent, and productive to one's capacity must become more important. (See Table 3 for additional resource information.)
Topics: Activities of Daily Living; Adaptation, Psychological; Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Caregivers; Child; Community Health Services; Disabled Persons; Employment; Female; Humans; Male; Physician's Role; Sexual Behavior; Social Adjustment; Social Welfare
PubMed: 7720408
DOI: 10.1016/s0045-9380(06)80013-7 -
Health Care Analysis : HCA : Journal of... Jun 2014This article aims to clarify the notion of a psychiatric disability. The article uses conceptual analysis, examining and applying established definitions of (general)...
This article aims to clarify the notion of a psychiatric disability. The article uses conceptual analysis, examining and applying established definitions of (general) disability to psychiatric disabilities. This analysis reveals that disability as inability to perform according to expectations or norms is related to impairment as deviation from the (statistical) norm, while disability as inability to achieve (personal) goals is related to impairment as deviation from the (personal) ideal. These two views of impairment and disability are distinct from the self-organization view of impairment as disrupted self-creation or disrupted self-repair and of disability as disrupted whole person self-compensation (in relation to an impairment). All these three views of disability pertain to psychiatric disability. Although there is nothing necessarily psychiatric about psychiatric disability other than the psychiatric impairment related to it, the life course and life circumstances typical of many people with (severe) psychiatric disorders may lead to disability and may thus confer some (psychiatric) specificity on this disability. This analysis may facilitate research on specific psychiatric disabilities and a broader scope for psychiatric rehabilitation.
Topics: Disabled Persons; Humans; Mental Disorders
PubMed: 23344673
DOI: 10.1007/s10728-012-0235-y -
Journal of Korean Medical Science May 2009To examine the current state and social ramifications of disability evaluation in Japan, public data from Annual Reports on Health and Welfare 1998-1999 were...
To examine the current state and social ramifications of disability evaluation in Japan, public data from Annual Reports on Health and Welfare 1998-1999 were investigated. All data were analyzed based on the classification of disabilities and the effects of age-appropriate welfare services, which have been developed through a half-century of legislative efforts to support disability evaluation. These data suggest that disability evaluation, while essentially affected by age and impairment factors at a minimum, was impacted more by the assistive environment for disabilities. The assistive environment was found to be closely linked with the welfare support system related to a global assessment in the field of community-based rehabilitation.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Child; Child, Preschool; Community Health Services; Disability Evaluation; Disabled Persons; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Japan; Male; Middle Aged; Social Support; Social Welfare
PubMed: 19503677
DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2009.24.S2.S227 -
Behavioral Medicine (Washington, D.C.) 1999Several models of disability proposed in recent years share many common elements and are helping to direct research and inform practice. One new development is that... (Review)
Review
Several models of disability proposed in recent years share many common elements and are helping to direct research and inform practice. One new development is that disablement, a concept that emphasizes the impairments--handicap continuum, is now being implemented by concepts related to enablement. Enablement focuses attention on the capacity for rehabilitation. Coincidentally, a new generation of functional assessment measures has evolved that allow greater sensitivity not only to levels of disability but also to levels of ability. Together, the new models and tools hold promise of providing a more sensitive evaluation of rehabilitation efforts and a more accurate forecasting of future needs.
Topics: Activities of Daily Living; Aged; Attitude to Health; Disability Evaluation; Disabled Persons; Efficiency; Geriatric Assessment; Health Care Costs; Health Policy; Health Promotion; Humans; Social Perception; Terminology as Topic; United States
PubMed: 10023495
DOI: 10.1080/08964289.1999.11879273 -
Disability and Rehabilitation 2014Currently, dominant web accessibility standards do not respect disability as a complex and culturally contingent interaction; recognizing that disability is a variable,... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
Currently, dominant web accessibility standards do not respect disability as a complex and culturally contingent interaction; recognizing that disability is a variable, contrary and political power relation, rather than a biological limit. Against this background there is clear scope to broaden the ways in which accessibility standards are understood, developed and applied.
METHODS
Commentary.
RESULTS
The values that shape and are shaped by legislation promote universal, statistical and automated approaches to web accessibility. This results in web accessibility standards conveying powerful norms fixing the relationship between technology and disability, irrespective of geographical, social, technological or cultural diversity.
CONCLUSIONS
Web accessibility standards are designed to enact universal principles; however, they express partial and biopolitical understandings of the relation between disability and technology. These values can be limiting, and potentially counter-productive, for example, for the majority of disabled people in the "Global South" where different contexts constitute different disabilities and different experiences of web access. To create more robust, accessible outcomes for disabled people, research and standards practice should diversify to embrace more interactional accounts of disability in different settings. Implications for Rehabilitation Creating accessible experiences is an essential aspect of rehabilitation. Web standards promote universal accessibility as a property of an online resource or service. This undervalues the importance of the user's intentions, expertize, their context, and the complex social and cultural nature of disability. Standardized, universal approaches to web accessibility may lead to counterproductive outcomes for disabled people whose impairments and circumstances do not meet Western disability and accessibility norms. Accessible experiences for rehabilitation can be enhanced through an additional focus on holistic approaches to accessibility blending digital and physical solutions, the use of BS 8878 and mixed-method approaches to accessibility benchmarking. Web standards and accessibility conformance should be considered together with user input and the recognition and development of local accessibility and rehabilitation expertize.
Topics: Access to Information; Culture; Disabled Persons; Guidelines as Topic; Humans; Internet; Public Policy; User-Computer Interface
PubMed: 25009950
DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2014.938178 -
Disability and Rehabilitation Aug 2007This article (i) reviews existing research on the relationships that exist among spirituality, religion, and health for persons with disabilities; and (ii) compares... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
This article (i) reviews existing research on the relationships that exist among spirituality, religion, and health for persons with disabilities; and (ii) compares different theoretical coping models (i.e., spiritual vs. psychoneuroimmunological).
BACKGROUND
Over the past decade interest has increased in relationships among spirituality, religion, and health in both the mainstream media (e.g., Newsweek) and scientific literature (e.g., Koenig). In general, research has concluded that religion and spirituality are linked to positive physical and mental health outcomes. Most religion and health research has focused on populations with life-threatening diseases (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disorders, AIDS) with minimal attention to persons with chronic, life-long disabling conditions such as brain injury, spinal cord injury, and stroke. However, religion is used by many individuals with disabilities to help them adjust to their impairments and to give new meaning to their lives.
CONCLUSIONS
Religion and spirituality are important coping strategies for persons with disabilities. Practical suggestions for rehabilitation professionals are provided regarding: (a) strategies to enhance religious coping; (b) methods to train rehabilitation professionals about religious issues; and (c) issues to consider regarding future research on rehabilitation and religion.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Disabled Persons; Humans; Rehabilitation; Religion; Religion and Medicine; Spirituality
PubMed: 17653989
DOI: 10.1080/09638280600955693 -
American Journal of Medical Genetics.... Aug 2011Since the inception of the field of genetic counseling, the profession has had a tenuous relationship with the disability community. Genetic counselors both offer... (Review)
Review
Since the inception of the field of genetic counseling, the profession has had a tenuous relationship with the disability community. Genetic counselors both offer prenatal diagnostic testing that allows individuals the opportunity to avoid the birth of a child with a disability and they advocate for the rights of individuals who have a disability. Some in the disability rights community have argued that they feel their lives and the lives of the disabled individuals in their families judged by the offer of prenatal genetic diagnosis and by the attitudes of genetic service providers they encounter in clinical settings. Select voices from the disability community fear that the result of developing technologies may contribute to a world less tolerant of disabilities. The available empirical data suggest that genetic counselors do little to counteract these perspectives. Although limited, investigations into the attitudes and practices of genetic counselors suggest that they have a more negative perspective on disabilities than individuals whose lives are directly affected by them and these attitudes may affect their description of disabling conditions in a prenatal setting. The National Society of Genetic Counselors, the organization that represents the profession in the US has more publicly aligned itself with abortion service providers over disease advocacy organizations, thus subjecting itself to the perception of bias. We suggest possible solutions to these criticisms and argue that individually and collectively, genetic counseling professionals should develop and identify opportunities to more fully support and advocate for the needs of a broader spectrum of clients.
Topics: Disabled Persons; Genetic Counseling; Genetic Diseases, Inborn; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Patient Advocacy
PubMed: 21567935
DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.34054