title: A study of the relationship of community living situation to independence and satisfaction in the lives of mentally retarded adults.
abstract: This study examined the relationship between the level of supervision provided at the community residences of 61 adults with mental retardation and their sense of independence and satisfaction in specific aspects of home life, work and community activity. Responses given to interview questions were transformed into scores for independence and satisfaction for each subject. In order to compare the relationship of supervision at home, an individual's intellectual functional ability, and his social support to independence and satisfaction, non-parametric analyses of the data were performed. These revealed statistically significant inverse relationships between the degree of home supervision and independence both at home and within the community, and satisfaction at home. Greater functional ability was found not to be significantly related to any measures of independence or satisfaction. A high level of social support was correlated only with overall measures of community independence, satisfaction at home, and community satisfaction.
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts Maedical School, Worcester.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Legault
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012931:Social Environment