The move toward deinstitutionalization of chronic psychiatric patients has been hampered by inadequate community-based rehabilitation programs. To investigate whether psychosocial rehabilitation promotes higher levels of functioning in discharged psychiatric patients, assessments of social adjustment, recidivism, and a non-traditional measure of…

Traditionally, assessment of the cognitive competencies of older adults has focused on abstract laboratory tests, which have often seemed quite unlike the demands of tasks encountered in everyday activities. Consequently, external validity of these laboratory tasks has been questioned, and their utility for assessing real-world competence has been…

Life review is frequently reported as a therapeutic modality providing a healthy means of adaptation for the elderly. This study was conducted to clarify the therapeutic role of the life review as a holistic nursing intervention in a sample of 60 homebound elderly persons. A structured life review process was designed, implemented, and evaluated…

Written from the perspective of a blind rehabilitation teacher, the paper focuses on teaching daily living skills to visually impaired persons. Of primary importance is early instruction in daily living skills integrated into the child's total life experience. The parent's role as a direct and consistent influence on the way children perceive the…

The study investigated maintenance of responding by four severely to moderately mentally retarded persons (12 to 16 years old) in a community living center who were taught methods of exiting the house in fire emergency situations. Training included instructions, modeling, behavioral rehearsal, social and tangible external reinforcement, and self…

This study examined the characteristics of elderly persons receiving help from family members as reported in published studies on family caregiving. The data were drawn from 10 volumes of the "Journal of Gerontology" and "The Gerontologist" (1978-1988). Thirty-one family caregiving studies were identified. Although few of the elderly require…

Although little emphasis has been placed on the community-based long-term care needs of the black elderly, examination of the needs of this group is important because of the projected rapid growth and the overall poverty rate of this population. Because personal care homes may be the only option currently available for the black elderly when…

The fact that few researchers have studied loneliness in widowhood may be related to the concept itself which spans intellectual perspectives, incorporating elements of affect, cognition, and social structure. To examine loneliness among elderly widowers, 24 adult males (participants in a more comprehensive study of widowed men, aged 63 to 93…

The College for Living Program in Denver, Colorado, focuses on independent living skills for developmentally disabled adults. The program is described in terms of its history (beginning in 1974) and its focus on education and community services provided by institutions of higher education. The program's three major goals and component objectives…

There is a need to go beyond English as a Second Language training for the Hmong and Mien living in the United States. Although the two groups are generally lumped together with other Southeast Asian refugee groups, they exhibit cultural and political differences which must be recognized by agencies serving them. The Hmong and Mien refugees lived…

Teachers at all grade levels need to recognize the importance of instruction in consumer reading and decision making skills. The definitions and prerequisites of a literate consumer underscore the importance of reading and reasoning skills development for making effective decisions. Consumer educators must also recognize that economic…

A study of 28 mother/child dyads (children aged 3 to 6) in which half the children were deaf was undertaken to compare communication skills between hearing and deaf children and the characteristics of functional communication between mothers and their children. Tapes of a half hour free play situation between mother and child were studied for each…

In 1997, John N. Gardner, Gretchen Van der Veer and associates published their landmark book, The Senior Year Experience: Facilitating Integration, Reflection, Closure, and Transition. One impact of this book, and the Senior Year Experience program within the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the…

Current research suggests that 5 percent of American children are affected by attention deficit disorder (ADD) and as many as 70 percent of them do not grow out of it in adolescence or adulthood. This paper aims to help outdoor and experiential educators understand how a person with ADD thinks and feels, and offers strategies for positively…

Individuals who are beyond the age of 85 have to confront the decrements of aging that are commonly recognized. This study examined the daily routine of the oldest old through interviews. Subjects were asked about the logistics of their daily lives, what they liked best to do, what they didn't like to do, what made a day good for them, and what…