Out-of-home placement of children and adolescents with severe handicaps: Behavioral intentions and behavior☆

https://doi.org/10.1016/0891-4222(93)90017-EGet rights and content

Abstract

This study tracked the thoughts and actions regarding out-of-home placement in 100 families who had a child or early adolescent with severe handicaps. Parents' behavioral intentions regarding out-of-home placement were assessed using a single item measure of placement tendency (The Placement Tendency Index) four times over a total period of approximately 6 years. Statistical models used to predict time until placement indicated that the Placement Tendency Index had modest predictive capacity in the long run, but increased predictive utility over shorter periods. Closer examination of the movement of scores from one wave of data collection to the next revealed three patterns, indicating variability in the speed and direction with which parents move along the scale.

References (32)

  • R.K. Eyman et al.

    Current trends and changes in institutions for the mentally retarded

  • I. Ajzen et al.

    Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research

    Psychological Bulletin

    (1977)
  • P.D. Allison

    Event history analysis: Regression for longitudinal event data

    (1984)
  • G.W. Allport

    Attitudes

  • J. Blacher

    Assessing placement tendency in families with children who have severe handicaps

    Research in Developmental Disabilities

    (1990)
  • J. Blacher

    Predicting out-of-home placement of children with severe handicaps: Quantitative and qualitative analyses

  • J. Blacher et al.

    Correlates of out-of-home placement of handicapped children: Who places and why?

  • J. Blacher et al.

    Out-of-home placement of children with severe handicaps: A comparison of approaches

    American Journal on Mental Retardation

    (1992)
  • J. Blacher et al.

    The role of informal and formal support in families of school-aged children with retardation

  • E.S. Bogardus

    Measuring social distances

    Journal of Applied Sociology

    (1925)
  • S.A. Borthwick-Duffy et al.

    Client characteristics and residential placement patterns

    American Journal of Mental Deficiency

    (1987)
  • B. Bromley et al.

    Out-of-home placement of children with severe handicaps: Factors delaying placement

    American Journal of Mental Retardation

    (1989)
  • B. Bromley et al.

    Parental reasons for out-of-home placement of children with severe handicaps

    Mental Retardation

    (1991)
  • D.A. Cole et al.

    Impact of needs and resources on family plans to seek out-of-home placement

    American Journal on Mental Retardation

    (1989)
  • R.M. Dawes et al.

    Attitude and opinion measurement

  • B. Farber

    Effects of a severely mentally retarded child on family integration

    Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development

    (1959)

    • Cited by (28)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    ☆

    This research was supported in part by grant #HD 21324, awarded to the first author from the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development.

    ∗

    The authors gratefully acknowledge the participants in the UCR Families Project who made this study possible.

    View full text
    Copyright © 1993 Published by Elsevier Ltd.