Taking control through self-determination: The management of personal lifestyles by adults with mental retardation.

Abstract

This study was based on the idea that self-determination may be used as a vehicle through which individuals with mental retardation may redefine their identities, recast their futures, and take more control of the management of their own lifestyles. On one level, the effectiveness of the intervention package on the acquisition or improvement of choice and decision-making skills in persons with mental retardation was examined because the literature provides evidence that choice and decision-making skills form the basis for the achievement of self-determination. On another level, the effectiveness of the intervention package on increasing self-determining behaviors was examined because research has offered evidence that individuals with mental retardation who consistently engage in self-determining behaviors are indeed self-determined. The intervention package was made up of component elements that were found in the literature to be associated with self-determination. The effects the elements had on the choice and decision-making process and the effects the elements had on the occurrence of self-determining behaviors were examined. Evidence is reported that suggests that this intervention package does increase self-determining behaviors while allowing the participants to assume more responsibility in the choices and decisions that impact their daily lives.