Assessing levels of personal autonomy among israeli adults with intellectual disabilities living in group homes and apartment settings

Abstract

One hundred and twenty Israeli adults with intellectual disabilities, randomly selected, who were residing either in group homes or in apartments in the community, were studied with respect to their differences in personal autonomy skills. The results are presented in this article. Overall, a significant difference was found between residents of group homes and apartments in respect to independence in domestic-centred routines, money handling skills and in using communication skills. Apartment residents were more independent. Another aspect examined with the two groups has been the opportunity of experiencing some everyday choices. Again, residents in apartments performed higher. Residents in apartments were more independent and had significantly more opportunity to choose on everyday issues, regardless of their previous residence. The fact that the two groups did not differ in respect to residents' personal characteristics such as age, gender, level of intellectual disabilities and severity of impairment, with no effects attributable to their previous placement, indicates that the variation between the residents is probably traceable to the type of facility in which they live.