Mental retardation最新文献

A preliminary survey of formal concepts of disability from the Twelve Tables of Rome of the 5th century BCE to the Prerogativa Regis in English law of the late 13th century CE is presented. Firm conclusions are restricted by problems in translation and other limitations in available data. However, it appears that the concept of intellectual disability and its distinction from episodic mental illness first emerged in several subcultures of Western civilization during the height of ancient imperial Rome and during the early medieval period in Northern European and Arabic civilization.

More and more persons with mental retardation and psychiatric disabilities are present in mainstream society, yet have little interaction and few relationships outside their own peer groups of devalued persons. Social integration remains a desirable yet elusive goal for most human service organizations, and there continues to be a certain amount of confusion about what constitutes social integration. Recent reviews in North America and Europe testify to the difficulty of achieving social integration, particularly for people with mental retardation and psychiatric disabilities. Social role valorization, with its use of the social role concept, provides useful insights and tools for analyzing the social integration conundrum. A social role conceptualization of social integration is proposed and an illustrative example is provided.

Effects of written information and weekly special educator contact on general educators in Seoul, Korea was examined. Special educators prepared a weekly newsletter to educate teachers on how to include children with disabilities in their classrooms for part of the day. Participants were 30 general educators and 300 nondisabled peers of the students with disabilities. A pretest-posttest control group was used to assess teacher efficacy, attitudes of general educators toward inclusion, and peer acceptance of children with disabilities. We conducted ANCOVAS on posttest scores of three measures, considering pretest scores of each survey as the covariate. General educators in the information group showed significantly higher scores in teacher-efficacy and attitudes toward inclusion. Their nondisabled students showed significantly higher acceptance scores than did controls.

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) of 22 individuals with Down syndrome was compared to that of 20 nondisabled control individuals of similar age (25.7 and 27.4 years, respectively). Using a ventilated hood system, we measured RMR in the early morning after an overnight fast. Peak aerobic capacity (VO2peak) and body composition were also determined. Resting metabolic rate was not different between groups. Adjusting RMR for body weight or body surface area did not change these findings. Using stepwise regression for the total population and each subgroup, we found that only body surface area was a significant predictor of RMR. These data show that individuals with Down syndrome do not have lower RMR than their nondisabled peers, suggesting that reduced RMR does not explain the high incidence of obesity in this population.

The walking activity of men and women with mental retardation residing in community settings was described. Participants were 38 women (M age=.7, SD=9.5) and 65 men (M age=35.9, SD=11.2). They wore pedometers for 7 days. A 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA indicated no significant gender differences in total step counts or between participants with and those without Down syndrome. A post-hoc analysis revealed that participants walked less on Saturday than during the weekdays. Only 21.1% of the women and 21.5% of the men with mental retardation accumulated the recommended 10,000 steps per day.

There is little information about the sleep patterns of adults who have mental retardation and are supported in the community. In the present study, direct-care staff recorded sleep behaviors of 59 adults residing in 16 suburban group homes. Based on direct observation and measurement procedures, the adults averaged 7.9 hours of sleep each evening and had low incidence of sleep problems. Sleep duration was not influenced by age, gender, degree of mental retardation, or psychiatric status. Adults taking antidepressant medication (SSRI) had fewer hours of sleep. We discuss implications of these findings and factors contributing to healthy sleep hygiene among community-living adults with mental retardation.