Employment and self-management: a meta-evaluation of seven literature reviews.
Self-management for adults with ID is sitting on the shelf—pull it down and run one self-selected goal this month.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Heinicke et al. (2012) read seven earlier reviews about adults with intellectual disability and work. They pulled out themes on self-management and self-determination.
The team wrote a big-picture story. They did not run new experiments. They asked, 'What happened to the push for self-management?'
What they found
The reviews said self-management can help adults pick their own goals. Yet real-world use had slowed down.
Programs faded. Research money moved on. The promise was still there, but the action stopped.
How this fits with other research
Wong et al. (2005) gave hard numbers. In 182 adults with mild ID across four countries, higher self-determination scores predicted better quality of life. This backs the 2012 call to bring self-management back.
Lau et al. (2023) looked at self-esteem and mood. They found joining meaningful activities lifted self-esteem. That fits with self-management, because both put the person in charge.
Xu et al. (2022) showed a new tool works. Their Chinese Self-Determination Inventory is valid for students with and without ID. More tools mean we can track progress if we restart programs today.
Why it matters
Your adult clients can learn to set work breaks, ask for help, or track their own tasks. Start small: have one client choose when to take a five-minute break and record it on a sticky note. That single act builds self-determination and may lift quality of life.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Efforts focused on teaching individuals with intellectual disabilities to manage their own affairs have evolved over the past 30 years. Self-management strategies, in particular, hold much promise when the goal is to promote self-determination. In this article, the authors describe trends in the evolution of self-management strategies by analyzing seven literature reviews. The authors conclude with thoughts related to jump-starting an intervention that has appeared to lose momentum, namely, self-management.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-50.1.69