Background: Few studies have investigated transition programs and outcomes for young adults with disabilities as viewed from the parent perspective. The current Australian study provided a voice for parents to report on the experiences of and outcomes for young adults following their recent transition from school into post-school life. Method: A…

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate active support (AS) training and to investigate changes to perceived engagement in domestic tasks, opportunities for choice, frequency of challenging behaviour, and level of support needs. Method: Participants were 12 adults with ID aged 27-57 years (M = 37 years) residing in three group homes, and…

This paper presents evidence collected from an evaluatory study of the Kickstart program conducted by Australian Football League (AFL) Cape York in far North Queensland. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Kickstart program in meeting its overall objective of enhancing lifeskills of Indigenous Australians through…

This paper presents the findings of a recent preliminary study into the effects of a wilderness therapy program on the resilience of male youth at-risk. The study focused on participants who completed a wilderness therapy program at Typo Station. The residential program involved a five-week stay at the Typo Station property in north east Victoria,…

Academics are reported to be working longer hours and have less time for research because of increasing administrative and teaching demands. The traditional pattern of the academic enterprise appears to have changed. To explore whether this is indeed the case, the Experience Sampling Method [ESM], a research technique devised by Mihaly…

Electronic travel devices are used to transform information about the environment that would normally be perceived through the visual sense into a form that can be perceived by people who are blind or have low vision through another sense (Blasch, Long, & Griffin-Shirley, 1989). They are divided into two broad categories: primary devices and…

Background: The "Service Need Assessment Profile" (SNAP) measures individual functional needs in areas of daily living. It produces a support profile, detailing the time allocations for staff support to assist in each area of need. The "Supports Intensity Scale" (SIS) is a support needs assessment scale designed to provide an…

In this paper we examine the effect an outdoor and experiential education program on the life effectiveness skills of its participants. A private boys school in Melbourne focused on the challenging time of year nine to implement a program they hoped would enable the boys to develop life effectiveness skills in the areas of time management, social…

This study reports on an assessment system for school-leavers with disabilities to identify their capacity for work and the type of transition-to-work programme best suited to each person. Participants were 1,556 high school students in four cohorts who left school between 1999 and 2002. Each school-leaver was assessed by rehabilitation…

A 10-week course designed to assist adults of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent with profound developmental disabilities to function more effectively was evaluated. Issues emerged concerning the lack of lead-time for course set-up, the inappropriateness of the curriculum, and communication and logistical difficulties. (Author/DB)

Responses in the parent interviews revealed that many trainees were still home based and family dependent. Some parents were prolonging the dependence of their young people rather than reinforcing the independent living skills training at the center. (Author)

A study that investigated the satisfaction of 60 Australian stroke survivors with their rehabilitative progress over 12 months found satisfaction with progress improved with time and was influenced by the return to previous lifestyle activities, depression, family functioning, understanding of stroke, and clarity of expectations on admission to…

This project responded to the concerns of experienced community health workers who worked with people who had mental illness and resided in Supported Residential Facilities (SRFs) in South Australia. They had identified that urinary and faecal incontinence was common for this group of people and yet it was an issue that had not previously been…

A survey of 138 Australian therapists providing services to students with severe disabilities found their role perception was consistent with a contemporary functional approach and that practices associated with a collaborative team approach received both a higher level of agreement and reported implementation than practices not associated with…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends 2013, taking place in Madrid, Spain, from 26 to 28 of April. Our efforts and active engagement can now be rewarded with these three days of exciting new developments about what we are passionate about: Psychology and its connections. We take pride…