Mental Health and Wellbeing
Disability and Disadvantage
Mental health status and implications for people with a disability, prisoners and offenders, people who are HIV-positive, long term unemployed people, rural and isolated communities and economically disadvantaged people (noting the co-morbidity that is associated with several of these statuses).
Parents with a disability
Assistive technology
Child health and wellbeing
Adults with a disability
Employment and disability
Parents with a disability This project involved the development of a book for parents that is based on information collected during interviews with 41 parents of children with special needs. It was funded by the Department of Human Services as a Rural Health Innovative Practice Fund project, and the Parent to Parent guide was completed in 2003. The interviews resulted in the identification of a diverse range of issues that were problematic, or otherwise important to the parents that were not anticipated, such as: coping in the days/ weeks following their child’s diagnosis; negotiating the specialist-client relationship; familial and marital issues; coping with the responses of friends and extended family to their child / situation; and the social experience of their child. When evaluated, the sections that were rated by parents as most useful were the chapters on Dealing with specific behaviours, Managing behaviour, and Resources. All of the parents liked the stories and quotes from other parents and the topics covered, and many of the parents indicated that the guide had prompted some positive change in their behaviour, or in how they feel about their caring role. This book has proven so popular that the Department of Human Services’ Disability office has commissioned two additional print-runs of 15,000 and 5,000 copies for distribution throughout Victoria . The Parent to Parent guide is available on the Deakin website: www.deakin.edu.au/dhs/parent_to_parent
There is a large body of literature about personal risk and resilience among children and adolescents from a variety of sub-populations. However, in intellectual disability research, resilience has almost exclusively been investigated and reported at the level of family stress and coping rather than an individual child's capacity to function adaptively despite severe risk. In this study young people with an intellectual disability, family members and non-family members (carers, teachers and family friends) were interviewed and asked about the young people’s relationships, coping styles, behaviour patterns and resilience. The main features placing these young people at risk included having autism or inflexible patterns of behaviour, displaying some forms of challenging behaviour, difficulty with receptive and expressive communication, living in families with high competing demands for time and living in a relatively unaccommodating community environment. The main factors leading to resilience were an attractive appearance/disposition, ability to get one’s message across, ability to adapt behaviour to changing contexts, low family stress levels and high sense of competence, stable relationships with supportive others and an accommodating/accepting community environment (both school and social). More information about this project can be obtained from Lynne Webber, lynne.webber@deakin.edu.au Assistive technology and communication Assistive technology research has attracted Commonwealth and State government grants, as well as industry grants over the past several years. Projects have resulted in several technology innovations including development and evaluation of accessible Internet and Email software in conjunction with staff from the School of Management Information Systems. Currently, the PhD research undertaken by Phillip Harper on the use of Videotechnology for deaf people in the workplace is the first of its type in the world and is attracting international interest. Projects with a focus on disability and assistive technology have produced academic publications, project reports, and conference presentations (eg. Harper, O’Connor & Owens, 2005; Keller, Braithwaite, Owens, & Smith, 2001; Owens, 2002; Owens, 2003; Owens, 2004; Owens, 2006; Owens & Smith, 2001; Owens & Smith, 2004; Owens & Smith, 2006; Owens & Scherer, 2003). For more information about projects in assistive technology contact Janet Owens, janet.owens@deakin.edu.au
Health and wellbeing of people with an intellectual disability In 2005 Lynne Webber supervised an honours thesis (Robyn Clark) on health and wellbeing of people with an intellectual disability with support from the Victorian Department of Human Services (Eastern Region). The findings suggested that according to support staff, weight management is the most important issue for their clients. According to the clients, they showed a preference for more sedentary than physical activities. Very few staff had used published health promotion programs and they reported that behavioural issues, motivation of their clients and physical abilities were barriers to improving health and were unsure how to overcome these barriers. A copy of the brief report or complete report can be obtained from Lynne Webber at lynne.webber@deakin.edu.au Many people in our community have mental impairments that reduce their capacity to look after their own financial affairs. An important question is when an administrator should be appointed to administer a person’s financial affairs? The overall aim of the thesis was to develop a framework and test that could be used to assess whether or not someone required an administrator to help them look after their own financial affairs. The results of our work suggest that there are six discrete areas of financial competence that should be considered when assessing an individual’s ability to manage their finances: (1) every day financial abilities; (2) financial judgment; (3) cognitive functioning related to financial tasks; (4) estate management; (5) debt management; and (6) support resources. In addition, we found that a test based on these six areas was able to identify individual strengths and weaknesses in financial competence. More information about this work can be obtained from Lynne Webber, lynne.webber@deakin.edu.au
Employer satisfaction with employees with a disability This study reports on survey responses from 656 employers who had employed someone with a disability, using support from disability employment agencies. Differences in employers’ ratings of employees with and without a disability in relation to employer satisfaction and work performance are outlined. Employers were found to be less satisfied with their employee with a disability than with other employees; determinants of employer satisfaction differed between the two employee groups; and employers were predisposed to be more satisfied with employees with a disability than with other employees in relation to the work performance variables tested. Identifying areas directly related to employer satisfaction, and highlighting important differences in factors that determine employer satisfaction between these two employee groups provides valuable direction for effective strategic planning of service intervention. For more information about this project contact Kaye Smith, kaye.smith@deakin.edu.au |
