Wie Personen mit Autismus und geistiger Behinderung das eigene Problemverhalten sehen - eine qualitative Untersuchung unter Einbeziehung von Fokusgruppen

In dieser Untersuchung wurde den Fragen nachgegangen, a) wie Personen mit einer geistigen Behinderung und/oder autistischen Störungen das eigene Problemverhalten hinsichtlich seiner Auslösung und Überwindung interpretieren und b) welche hilfreichen Vorschläge die Betroffenen entwickeln, die eigene Lebensqualität zu verbessern, um dadurch auch das eigene Problemverhalten zu reduzieren bzw. zum Verschwinden zu bringen. Methodisch wurde mit qualitativen Forschungsansätzen gearbeitet. Die Informationen wurden an sog. Fokusgruppen und anlässlich von Interviews erhoben. Die aus der qualitativen Forschung geläufigen Techniken der Informationssammlung und Datenreduktion, der Generierung von thematischen Kategorien und Kodes und der Interpretationen von wiederkehrenden Themen führten zu bemerkenswerten Ergebnissen. So zeigte sich, dass Variablen der Lebensqualität sich auf Variablen des Problemverhaltens auswirken und dass die Betroffenen motiviert und auch in der Lage dazu sind, mit den ihnen zur Verfügung stehenden Mitteln lösungsorientierte Informationen zu entwickeln

Improving a Family’s Overall Quality of Life Through Parent Training in Pivotal Response Treatment

As the diagnoses of autism in young children continually increase, the need for families to have access to research-based treatment models that are effective and efficient has become clear. Current research demonstrates the demand for parent-delivered behavioral interventions. The aim of this single-case study, conducted as part of an integrated Masters in Education/Special Education Credential Program, was to examine the relationship between one parent trained in pivotal response treatment (PRT), her implementation of PRT techniques, and the correlated gains of behavioral compliance in her 6-year-old boy with high-functioning autism (HFA). Visual analysis of collected data as well as calculation of nonoverlapping data points suggest that a parent, when effectively trained, can utilize PRT to increase the rate of behavioral compliance of his or her own children

Family Perspectives on Problem Behavior

Abstract: Data from interviews with 17 families who have a member with mental retardation and problem behavior were reported. The interview was focused on the families ' definition of problem behavior, current challenges they face, and successful approaches for helping individuals with problem behavior and their families as well as suggestions from families about what kinds of information they believe would help them in addressing challenges. Key recommendations focus on the implications of this information for research, demonstration, and training activities. The mental retardation literature concerning problem behavior is primarily limited to documentation of families ' or service providers ' priorities an

The Perspectives of Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities and/or Autism on Their Lives and Their Problem Behavior.

The purpose of the study was 2-fold: (a) to explore the perceptions of individuals with cognitive disabilities and/ or autism regarding barriers and solutions they have experienced related to problem behavior, and (b) to elicit suggestions on areas viewed as most helpful in increasing quality of life while reducing or eliminating problem behavior. A qualitative method of inquiry using focus groups and individual interviews was used. Several themes emerged from the focus groups, including the difficulties participants experienced with communication; participants’ need for personal decision making and privacy; and the importance of recreation, employment, selection of living situations, and relationships with friends and family members. The article indicates the importance of listening carefully to individuals with disabilities as a first step in improving the quality of their lives

Meningitic Escherichia coli K1 Penetration and Neutrophil Transmigration Across the Blood–Brain Barrier are Modulated by Alpha7 Nicotinic Receptor

Alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), an essential regulator of inflammation, is abundantly expressed in hippocampal neurons, which are vulnerable to bacterial meningitis. However, it is unknown whether α7 nAChR contributes to the regulation of these events. In this report, an aggravating role of α7 nAChR in host defense against meningitic E. coli infection was demonstrated by using α7-deficient (α7-/-) mouse brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMEC) and animal model systems. As shown in our in vitro and in vivo studies, E. coli K1 invasion and polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) transmigration across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) were significantly reduced in α7-/- BMEC and α7-/- mice. Stimulation by nicotine was abolished in the α7-/- cells and animals. The same blocking effect was achieved by methyllycaconitine (α7 antagonist). The tight junction molecules occludin and ZO-1 were significantly reduced in the brain cortex of wildtype mice infected with E. coli and treated with nicotine, compared to α7-/- cells and animals. Decreased neuronal injury in the hippocampal dentate gyrus was observed in α7-/- mice with meningitis. Proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, MCP-1, MIP-1alpha, and RANTES) and adhesion molecules (CD44 and ICAM-1) were significantly reduced in the cerebrospinal fluids of the α7-/- mice with E. coli meningitis. Furthermore, α7 nAChR is the major calcium channel for nicotine- and E. coli K1-increased intracellular calcium concentrations of mouse BMEC. Taken together, our data suggest that α7 nAChR plays a detrimental role in the host defense against meningitic infection by modulation of pathogen invasion, PMN recruitment, calcium signaling and neuronal inflammation

The Human Phenotype Ontology project:linking molecular biology and disease through phenotype data

The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) project, available at http://www.human-phenotype-ontology.org, provides a structured, comprehensive and well-defined set of 10,088 classes (terms) describing human phenotypic abnormalities and 13,326 subclass relations between the HPO classes. In addition we have developed logical definitions for 46% of all HPO classes using terms from ontologies for anatomy, cell types, function, embryology, pathology and other domains. This allows interoperability with several resources, especially those containing phenotype information on model organisms such as mouse and zebrafish. Here we describe the updated HPO database, which provides annotations of 7,278 human hereditary syndromes listed in OMIM, Orphanet and DECIPHER to classes of the HPO. Various meta-attributes such as frequency, references and negations are associated with each annotation. Several large-scale projects worldwide utilize the HPO for describing phenotype information in their datasets. We have therefore generated equivalence mappings to other phenotype vocabularies such as LDDB, Orphanet, MedDRA, UMLS and phenoDB, allowing integration of existing datasets and interoperability with multiple biomedical resources. We have created various ways to access the HPO database content using flat files, a MySQL database, and Web-based tools. All data and documentation on the HPO project can be found online

Research strategies for organizational history:a dialogue between historical theory and organization theory

If history matters for organization theory, then we need greater reflexivity regarding the epistemological problem of representing the past; otherwise, history might be seen as merely a repository of ready-made data. To facilitate this reflexivity, we set out three epistemological dualisms derived from historical theory to explain the relationship between history and organization theory: (1) in the dualism of explanation, historians are preoccupied with narrative construction, whereas organization theorists subordinate narrative to analysis; (2) in the dualism of evidence, historians use verifiable documentary sources, whereas organization theorists prefer constructed data; and (3) in the dualism of temporality, historians construct their own periodization, whereas organization theorists treat time as constant for chronology. These three dualisms underpin our explication of four alternative research strategies for organizational history: corporate history, consisting of a holistic, objectivist narrative of a corporate entity; analytically structured history, narrating theoretically conceptualized structures and events; serial history, using replicable techniques to analyze repeatable facts; and ethnographic history, reading documentary sources "against the grain." Ultimately, we argue that our epistemological dualisms will enable organization theorists to justify their theoretical stance in relation to a range of strategies in organizational history, including narratives constructed from documentary sources found in organizational archives. Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved