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    Multi-stakeholder perspectives on barriers to finding a job for individuals with an intellectual disability : applying actor-observer theory : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Mauer, Amy
    This research examined the perceived barriers to finding a job for individuals with an intellectual disability from the perspectives of three key stakeholders on an “actor-observer” (A-O) continuum: potential employees with an intellectual disability (actors), potential employers (observers) and employment specialists (in-between), who specialise in finding jobs for individuals with an intellectual disability. These participants made attributions for successful and unsuccessful job applications, exploring the possibility that dispositional attributions (e.g. lack of skills) by observers will be the predominant barrier to workplace inclusion. Using Flanagan’s critical incident technique, successful employment and unsuccessful unemployment stories were collected from employees with an intellectual disability (n=30), employers (n=13) and employment specialists (n=22). When employees with an intellectual disability were unsuccessful in finding a job, these employees (actors) attributed situational factors such as negative attributions by the employer. Whilst employers (observers) tended more to blame dispositional factors, such as a lack of skills from employees with intellectual disabilities as the reason they did not hire. Employment specialists made both dispositional and situational but predominantly situational attributions. For successful employment, all three groups attributed support from the employment specialists, employers being flexible in the hiring process and employees with an intellectual disability being capable to do the job as the most important factors. As well as supporting A-O theory, these findings highlight the need for employees to be trained in job skills prior to job hunting and especially for employers to be trained in perspective taking, in order to remove the need for specialist support agencies.
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    Emotion recognition and intellectual disability : development of the kinetic emotion recognition assessment and evaluation of the emotion specificity hypothesis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Godinovich, Zara Angela
    Deficits in social adaptive functioning are a defining criterion of intellectual disability (ID) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), and a key predictor of social inclusion and subsequent quality of life (Kozma, Mansell, & Beadle-Brown, 2009). Impairment in facial emotion recognition is often cited as the component skill responsible for the social difficulties observed. This position has been formally conceptualised by the emotion specificity hypothesis (ESH; Rojahn, Rabold, & Schneider, 1995), which proposes that individuals with ID manifest a specific deficit in facial emotion recognition beyond that which can be explained by difficulties in general intellectual functioning. Despite apparent widespread acceptance, there is not yet sufficient evidence to substantiate these claims. Moore (2001) proposes that emotion perception capacities may be intact in people with ID, and that reported deficits are instead, due to emotion recognition tasks making extensive cognitive demands that disadvantage those with lesser cognitive abilities. The aim of the present study was to clarify the nature of facial emotion recognition abilities in adults with mild ID. To this end, the Kinetic Emotion Recognition Assessment (KERA), a video-based measure of facial emotion recognition, was developed and a pilot study completed. The measure was designed to assess emotion recognition abilities, while attempting to reduce information-processing demands beyond those required to perceive the emotional content of stimuli. The new instrument was assessed for its psychometric properties in individuals with ID and neurotypical control participants. Initial findings supported the interrater reliability and overarching construct validity of the measure, offering strong evidence in favour of content, convergent and predictive validity. Item difficulty and discrimination analysis confirmed that the KERA included items of an appropriate level of difficulty to capture the range of emotion recognition capacities expected of individuals with mild ID. The secondary focus of the study was to assess how subtle methodological changes in the assessment of emotion recognition ability may affect emotion recognition performance, and in turn provide insight into how we might reinterpret existing ESH literature. To this end, the KERA was also applied in an investigation of the potential moderating effects of dynamic cues and emotion intensity, in addition to the assessment of the ESH. The results offer strong evidence that individuals with ID experience relative impairment in emotion recognition abilities when compared with typically developing controls. However, it remains to be seen whether the observed difficulties are specific to emotional expression or associated with more generalised facial processing. Preliminary findings also suggest that like their typically developing peers, individuals with ID benefit from higher intensity emotional displays; while in contrast, they observe no advantage from the addition of movement cues. Finally, the overarching motivation for the reassessment and improved measurement of the ESH, was in the interests of improving real-world outcomes associated with emotion recognition capacities. Accordingly, emotion recognition data were also interpreted in the context of three measures of social functioning to explore the link between social competence and emotion recognition ability. Results indicated that emotion recognition abilities are linked to outcomes in social adaptive functioning, particularly for females.
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    Factors affecting the success of intellectually handicapped people placed in unsheltered employment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1982) Sinclair, Gordon Herbert
    This study aimed at providing some initial information about those variables associated with 'success' of intellectually handicapped people working in unsheltered jobs in New Zealand. Subjects were selected from clients of the local Branch of the New Zealand Society for the Intellectually Handicapped using vocational status and supervisor consensus. Two groups of 18 subjects each were compared on demographic, social and vocational variables while controlling for sex and secondary handicap. For one assessment instrument, it was also necessary to control for the independence of subscale pairs. Results indicated that further refinement of the Adaptive Functioning Index scales was required but that programmes designed to improve social problem solving ability and communication skills may aid in placing and maintaining trainees in unsheltered jobs. The adherance to a client-centered placement procedure was advocated together with increases in the documentation of training programmes. These steps would allow the expansion of the present study to one with improved control procedures and wider scope.
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    The evaluation of the Transformers programme : an emotion regulation programme for people who have an intellectual disability : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) McWilliams, Jenna Louise
    It is widely accepted that emotion regulation difficulties are common in people who have an intellectual disability. Not being able to manage their distressing emotions can lead to challenging behaviour such as verbal and physical violence and property destruction and can lead to injury, alienation, poor-self-esteem, and legal problems. Growing research suggests that people who have an intellectual disability have the ability to engage in and benefit from interventions that address their emotion regulation problems. The current thesis consists of four papers—a systematic literature review, programme description, a study regarding emotional identification, and a study about emotion regulation. The main aim of the research was to evaluate an emotion regulation programme known as Transformers that is being implemented at an intellectual disability service. Transformers is a group-based treatment programme that is run over a six-month period. Five participants with mild to moderate intellectual disability (aged 17-42 years) attended the Transformers programme and took part in the studies along with their caregivers. A single-case design was chosen to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme. Participants completed emotion recognition tasks and self-report measures of emotion regulation before, during, and after their involvement in the programme. Caregivers also rated the frequency of participants’ use of emotion regulation skills and incident reports provided insight into their ongoing behaviour. While the results showed that the Transformers programme was not effective in improving participants’ abilities to recognise emotion nonetheless participants did increase in their ability to use appropriate emotion regulation strategies and reduced the number of incidents of challenging behaviour. Overall, these preliminary findings suggest that the Transformers programme is a viable treatment option for people who have an intellectual disability who have difficulty managing their own emotions. While the findings are encouraging, it is recommended that further research be carried out using larger sample sizes and longer follow up periods to establish the effectiveness of the programme.
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    Indigence to independence : the development of social policy in New Zealand for people with learning disabilities : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1995) Thomson, Janet Beattie
    This study traces the development of social policy in New Zealand for people with learning disabilities. The study examines the social influences and the outcomes of past social policies which have shaped the development of an increasingly explicit social policy for disabled people. Integral to this analysis is a consideration of the impact of these policies upon the family. This study suggests that social policy, in establishing services which have moved people with learning disabilities progressively towards independence, has required a concomitant role of the family that has increasingly involved them in the lives of their dependants. Social policy for people whose learning capacity is impaired reflects society's movement towards an understanding of the condition as a "learning disability"1. 1 The terms that recognise an impairment in intellectual functioning are subject to ongoing debate amongst the disabled community. Since this thesis was commenced, the term "intellectual disability" has returned to use alongside "learning disability". The term "intellectual disability" reflects disabled people's intent to have their disability recognised as a valid part of self. The term "learning disability" arises out of the notion of difference, which includes such 'otherness' as impaired intellectual functioning, within its continuum. The term "learning difficulty" extends this continuum further. The forms which recognise an impairment in Intellectual functioning have moved to increasingly positive modes, removing the stigma associated with other labels such as "mentally retarded". The study examines the changes in societal perceptions of learning disabled people which been fundamental in the construction of social policy, partnering changes in philosophies of care that in turn have shaped the nature of service delivery. Notions of deviancy. sickness, difference and partnership underpinned the development of social policy, as it related to people with learning disabilities, from the 1840s. Services to people with learning disabilities have been delivered by both the State and the voluntary sector. The study contrasts the role of the State as a major service provider through the health, education and welfare sectors with the role established by voluntary agencies. A discussion of the development of service provision to people with learning disabilities provides an understanding of the changing relationship between the State and voluntary sectors. Ideologies of 'welfare' underpinned the provision of services through the period of this study and were themselves influenced by the wider political and economic environment. Laissez-faire ideologies in the settlement period of the nineteenth century, fabian socialism in the 1930s and libertarian ideologies in the 1980s are discussed as they relate to the formation of social policy for people with learning disabilities. The State's changing role in providing for the welfare needs of its citizens, including those with learning disabilities, is discussed against this background. The outcomes of past policies have been a major influence in the development of current social policy. Current policies are likely in their own turn to influence the nature of future social policy and services to those with learning disabilities. Some consideration is given to the implications they might hold for families who have dependants with learning disabilities, and for people with learning disabilities themselves.
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    Days of our lives : people with intellectual disabilities describe their experience and viewpoints of services : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1996) Perkins, Jan
    This thesis is drawn from the experiences and viewpoints expressed by five individuals with intellectual disabilities. The objectives of the research in this thesis were to establish a view from below of disability services, and to identify an agenda for change. The main research question is; how can we improve the quality of daily lived experience in disability services for people with intellectual disabilities? In this research I developed a set of emancipatory principles on which the process was based. The participants voices were heard through individual interviews and group meetings. On analysis their viewpoints combined into ten themes that described their past and current experiences and gave clear direction as to how services should change. I set out to provide an opportunity for people with intellectual disabilities to speak safely outside of the service structure and create the agenda as to what was important for them to share. The issues raised by the participants revealed the power and control exercised by service providers and the lack of opportunity service users have to exercise choice over fundamental aspects of their lives; who they live with, where they live, how they are supported and how their daily environments are structured. The messages they give are simple and clear. They ask that people listen to them and include them in decisions made about their lives. The viewpoints that are reflected here place the participants as part of an oppressed group, within a service structure dominated by the principle of normalisation and an ideology of disability based upon personal tragedy. Through gaining an understanding of their oppression and also of their achievements, we can create a new set of goals based on emancipatory principles: namely reciprocity and empowerment. It is argued that we can move beyond the binary division of service provider and service user to services based on partnership.