Educando en autodeterminación al final de la vida: una propuesta formativa dirigida a personas con discapacidad intelectual que envejecen
| Título | Educando en autodeterminación al final de la vida: una propuesta formativa dirigida a personas con discapacidad intelectual que envejecen |
|---|---|
| Código | FONDECYT INICIACIÓN Nº11230525 |
| Palabras Clave | envejecimiento; discapacidad intelectual; autodeterminación |
| Período | 2023-2025 |
| Financiamiento | FONDECYT |
| Modalidad | Individual |
| Investigador Responsable | Izaskun Álvarez-Aguado |
At present, self-determination emerges as a key concept to ensure successful inclusion processes and progress in the implementation of measures suggested by some legislative instruments regarding disability. This construct is understood as the set of skills that a person needs to be the protagonist of relevant events in their life, without unnecessary external influences or interferences. The Functional Model of Self-Determination (FMSD) assumes that the development of this concept arises from the acquisition, refinement, and interrelation of a set of components operationalized in four dimensions (autonomy, self-regulation, empowerment, and self-realization) and their corresponding indicators. Precisely, in the field of special education, it is currently a priority to advance in the design of proposals that respond to the training demands of individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities who are aging (IDD) to exercise skills related to self-determination. Although there are promising interventions in childhood and the transition to adulthood, research and program development aimed at strengthening these skills during aging are not as prolific. However, receiving training in self-determination based on the FMSD is crucial for individuals with IDD who are aging because they more frequently face discrimination than their younger counterparts, constantly having their right to control over their own lives violated. Among other factors, these individuals have fewer opportunities to express their preferences, do not usually receive appropriate support to engage significantly in activities of interest, have a very restricted social network, and are more likely to remain in segregated environments, etc. Additionally, in quality of life measurements involving older adults with IDD, self-determination is the dimension with the lowest scores, and consequently, the one that needs to be strengthened more diligently. Starting from this foundation and considering the evidence supporting self-determination as a significant predictor of quality of life, the need to provide supports that enable individuals with IDD who are aging to acquire and express skills related to this concept becomes an urgent reality. This research precisely stems from this innovative scenario and aims to understand the training needs in self-determination presented by older adults with IDD in the Chilean context, to develop a training proposal that promotes learning to help them exercise and express skills related to this important construct. All of the above is intended to contribute, as far as possible, to eradicating the constant inequality that defines the reality of this specific and often overlooked population. To advance towards achieving this goal, an exploratory study of a descriptive and concurrent mixed-methods nature is proposed, targeting adults with IDD aged 45 and older. This research is structured in three stages (approach, action, evaluation) that include activities related to: (a) the analysis of the levels of self-determination and the training needs of individuals with IDD in the aging process to exercise and express self-determination skills; (b) the development and validation, based on the FMSD, of a training proposal on self-determination aimed at the population of older adults with IDD, and (c) the evaluation of the impact of the implementation of this proposal on the development of skills related to the construct by these individuals. The planned actions in these stages require the use of mixed-methods evidence collection techniques (quantitative and qualitative): (a) The ARC Personal Self-Determination Scale to obtain measurements of the degree of self-determination of participants, allowing pre-test/post-test comparisons; (b) Focus Groups supported by Prosocial Visualization techniques, either to collect qualitative evidence about the training demands of individuals with IDD who are aging regarding learning self-determination, or to support the collection of information that contributes to the development of the training proposal; (c) Design Probes to quantify data that help assess the suitability of the proposal with the components of the construct established from the FMSD; and (d) Semi-Structured Interviews, supported by Moodboards, to delve into the perceptions of the beneficiaries of the proposal (individuals with IDD who are aging) about the potential benefits associated with their participation. To analyze the evidence obtained, from a quantitative perspective, procedures for descriptive and inferential statistical analysis are considered, especially means, standard deviations, ex-ante/ex-post, independent or repeated samples, etc., facilitating the construction of error diagrams using ANOVA or Student's t-test (or their non-parametric equivalents). From a qualitative perspective, work focused on the description of findings through critical discourse analysis and thematic meta-analysis is to be developed. This proposal also has scientific, sociopolitical, and organizational impact and includes some innovative aspects aimed at advancing the country towards equal opportunities. Among others, it addresses a problem scarcely considered in specialized literature and overcomes shortcomings detected in previous studies on the subject. It also constitutes a contribution at the level of public policy by providing support to cover the deficiencies in legislation on disability. The execution of this project also promotes the incorporation of technology, for example, in the development of innovative information collection techniques (Design Probes, Moodboards, etc.) in terms of accessibility in their forms and uses. Finally, in some way, this proposal contributes to increasing the number of studies based on the inclusive research paradigm that, among other characteristics, recognizes the value and need to promote the active participation of individuals with IDD in research that concerns them.
