Abstract
Residential specialists (759) in public and private facilities were surveyed to identify the skills that they consider essential for mentally retarded adults to function in different residential settings. For each of three residential settings—unsupervised apartment, supervised apartment, and group home—the residential specialists completed the Prognostic Beliefs Scale, which consisted of 27 functional capabilities including self-help skills, independent living skills, decision making skills, and social activity skills. The choices for each capability were: essential; helpful; and not relevant for living in a given residential setting. Significant differences were found between settings on 20 of the 27 capabilities. For the Unsupervised Apartment setting, 19 of the 27 items were identified as essential, with an emphasis placed on self-help and independent living skills. For the Supervised Apartment setting, only 7 of the 27 capabilities were so identified. For the Group Home setting, none of the 27 capabilities were considered essential. In fact, even the most basic self-help skills (e.g., drinking from a cup unassisted) were considered essential by fewer than a third of the respondents. Those capabilities dealing with social relationships / intimacy were not considered important for any setting. Overall, residential specialists identified a profile of capabilities essential for a mentally retarded person to function in different residential settings.
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