Tool for assessing self-determination in adults with intellectual disability: a systematic review

Abstract

Since the early Nineties there has been a significant scientific acknowledgment of the importance of self-determination in the education of persons with disabilities. This corpus of research concerns almost exclusively the theoretical aspects of the construct and only a few studies have empirically dealt with evaluating the actual level of self-determination of people with disabilities and/or the impact that psycho-educational interventions and supports have in promoting self-determined behaviours.
In order to investigate the empirical researches that analyse how the construct is interpreted by the insiders and which of its components are actually taken into consideration, the present contribution, using the research methodology of the systematic review, intends to address this gap carrying out a survey of the quantitative tools most used by psycho-pedagogical research for the assessment of self-determination in adults with intellectual disabilities. The paper confirms the lack in literature of researches exclusively dedicated to the quantitative tools used to assess self-determination and its specific components. This represents, finally, a priority for the growth of knowledge related to the construct, as well as of most evidence-based interventions and supports necessary to develop, implement and guarantee self-determination in adults with intellectual disabilities.