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theses

While the number of group home for persons with intellectual disabilities has rapidly increased in recent decades, this has not been matched by adequate attempts to understand what makes them function best. One way of conceptualizing and evaluating residential settings is through assessment of the “social climate.” Social climate is a construct built on the perceptions that group home members have of their environment, and is theorized to mediate the outcomes that objective group home qualities and inputs are intended to have upon participants. Because social climate is guided by the perspective of group home members, it can also serve an empowering role for staff members and residents whose voices often go unheard. However, despite its merits, such an assessment has not been done with this population and setting. The purpose of this research was to examine the social climate of adult group homes for individuals with intellectual disabilities. To accomplish this, a measure of the social climate was adapted for use with this population, the relationship between satisfaction and a participant’s fit with their social environment was assessed, and both staff members and disabled residents were empowered with feedback from the researcher regarding the social environment. Thirteen staff members and five disabled residents residing in a single group home in the community were interviewed and given feedback based on structured interview questions, a satisfaction questionnaire, and Rudolph Moos’ Community Oriented Programs Environment Scale. Results indicated that residents’ satisfaction could be related to their fit with their social environment, and that this type of assessment was both feasible and useful for staff and residents in this context.

ETD_7353

Psy.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Alex Gonzales-Harsha

doi:10.7282/T3639S1C

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.