Understanding Of Self-determination Research Articles

Older adults’ experiences of self-determination when needing homecare services—an interview study

BackgroundSelf-determination has been shown to be an important factor in mental health and wellbeing, but from the homecare recipients’ point of view, autonomy and self-determination is not fully integrated into homecare services. The aim of this study was to explore older adults’ experiences of self-determination when needing homecare services.MethodsIn 2018, a qualitative descriptive study was conducted and a convenience sample of 15 older adults from 3 homecare service facilities were invited to participate in individual interviews. Data were analysed using qualitative content analyse.ResultsThe theme Transitioning from self-determination as independence towards self-determination as shared decision-making emerged through the older adults’ narratives. This ‘transition’ is one in which older adult’s understanding of self-determination and self-esteem was transitioning towards the acceptance of shared decision-making. The person’s inner strength and willingness to make decisions was promoting to enact and preserve independence. Accepting one’s dependence on others and being in a positive atmosphere were described as promoting self-determination and shared decision-making, and vice versa. The above overarching theme permeated all subthemes, which included: mobilising inner strength to enact independence; accepting increasing dependence on others; and being influenced by the atmosphere.ConclusionsThe study contributes increased understanding of older adults’ experiences of self-determination. The results can act as a guide when planning future person-centred care interventions in the context of homecare services and help improve homecare services’ ability to meet the needs of older adults. To summarise, older adults’ reflections on their own self-determination highlighted relationships with other people as important for shared decision-making, which could help preserve older adults’ autonomy and self-esteem.

“Being Yourself”: Self-Determination at a Summer Sports Camp for Youths With Visual Impairments

Introduction: This mixed-methods study examined self-determination at a summer sports camp for youths with visual impairments (i.e., those who are blind or have low vision). Educators of students with visual impairment have reported that the expanded core curriculum should be taught outside of the school day and have reported placing a lower priority on teaching self-determination skills during school hours. Methods: Athletes at a mid-Atlantic sports camp for youths with visual impairments responded to the American Institute for Research (AIR) Self-Determination Scale survey regarding perceptions of their own self-determination across three settings, a questionnaire about their experiences of self-determination during camp, and interviews about their understanding of self-determination at camp. Adult coaches responded to a questionnaire concerning opportunities for athletes to develop self-determination skills. Results: A repeated measures ANOVA on composite scores of AIR Self-Determination Scale across home, school, and camp settings revealed athletes were statistically significant, F(2.13) = 24.24, p < .001. Athletes were more confident in their self-determination skills at camp ( M = 26.6, SD = 3.33) compared to home ( M = 19.1, SD = 5.76) and school ( M = 19.2, SD = 5.21). Athletes reported the camp setting allowed for the development of self-determination skills by fostering positive relationships between coaches and athletes, providing emotional support, and promoting inclusion with respect to visual impairment. Limitations included the small sample size, question comprehension, shortened data collection, busy environment, and nature of the relationship between participants and researchers. Discussion: This research will contribute to literature related to teaching self-determination skills to young people with visual impairments and has implications for classroom learning. Implications for Practitioners: Low student-to-staff ratios, access to adapted sports, options to follow one's interests throughout the day, and goal-setting are aspects of camp that educators can adopt to promote self-determination in school.

Pharmacy Students’ Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities and Perceptions of Right to Self-Determination

Objective. As the number of persons with disabilities increases, pharmacists are responsible for providing optimal pharmaceutical care services to more patients in this population. The purpose of this study was to assess pharmacy students' perceptions of the right of persons with disabilities to self-determination and to identify factors that affect pharmacists' attitudes and perceptions.Methods. A survey of 370 pharmacy students was conducted. The revised Korean versions of the Scale of Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (SADP) and the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Form O (ATDP-O) were used to measure attitudes toward persons with disabilities. Pharmacy students' perception of the right of persons with disabilities to self-determination was measured in 2 subdomains developed by education and ethics experts: absoluteness of right and social support.Results. Responses from 363 pharmacy students were included in the analysis. We found that the more contact students had with persons with disabilities in the past, the more positive attitudes they had toward this patient group. In addition, students' understanding of self-determination and positive attitudes toward persons with disabilities were determined to be statistically significant factors affecting pharmacy students' perceptions of both the absoluteness of right of persons with disabilities and the level of social support that should be given to this patient group.Conclusion. Since experience relating to people with disabilities is associated with pharmacy students' positive perceptions about the right of persons with disabilities to self-determination, education and activities are needed in the pharmacy curriculum to ensure students have experiences with this patient group.

Decolonizing Self-Determination: Haudenosaunee Passports and Negotiated Sovereignty

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) recognises both Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and simultaneously offers protections in regard to states’ right to sovereignty and territorial integrity vis-à-vis Indigenous peoples’ claims. Often, this is considered an internal inconsistency of the UNDRIP, and another common critique is that Indigenous peoples were only recognised as having a diminished right to self-determination, which is less than what everyone else enjoys. This article stands in contrast to these two lines of critique, arguing that the UNDRIP’s articulation of self-determination is potentially ushering in a broadening, and possible reshaping, of self-determination, which has been increasingly decoupled from singular Westphalian notions of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘territoriality’ in ways that require ongoing negotiation between peoples and states. This case study of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s issuance and use of their passports, based on original fieldwork including a set of qualitative interviews with key informants, demonstrates how the Haudenosaunee Confederacy is pushing the practice and understanding of self-determination in multiple, new directions to include plural sovereignties in deeply significant ways concerning International Relations in both theory and in practice.

The Never-Chosen: Samson Occom, the New Divinity, and Indigenous Self-Determination

The Never-Chosen: Samson Occom, the New Divinity, and Indigenous Self-Determination

Mapping the Literature on the Essential Characteristics of Self-Determination

This study represents a map of the literature on the essential characteristics of self-determination (volitional action, agentic action, and action-control beliefs) to (a) identify how these characteristics have been theorized and examined in research with people with and without disabilities prior to and since the introduction of Causal Agency Theory, (b) discern any significant gaps in the knowledge base, and (c) serve as the basis for recommendations to the field for utilizing what is known about the essential characteristics of self-determination and expanding upon it in future research. A systematic search process was used to identify peer-reviewed articles meeting the inclusion criteria. A content analysis of the included articles was conducted. The search process yielded a total of 49 articles. Findings show volitional and agentic action have been consistently defined and described across disciplines, but limited research has addressed action-control beliefs. Gaps in the knowledge base relate to how the essential characteristics collectively relate to and characterize self-determined action and exploration of these characteristics from a life course perspective and when considering disability, diversity, and support needs. Overall, findings suggest the need for future research to examine understandings of self-determination across contexts and populations within the framework of Causal Agency Theory, given the critical importance of self-determination in the lives of people with and without disabilities and the increasing need for unifying theories that promote multidisciplinary work that can be used to create positive outcomes for all people in society across the life course.

Perceptions and understandings of self-determination in the context of relationships between people with intellectual disabilities and social care professionals

This study examines perceptions and understandings of self-determination in the context of relationships between people with intellectual disabilities and social care professionals. We held focus group discussions to explore the views and experiences of 10 residents and 10 professionals at three facilities for people with intellectual disabilities located in Western Switzerland. Participants perceived and understood self-determination in terms of decision-making, social skills, procedures, identity, self-consciousness, autonomy, freedom, barriers, and facilitators. The research process highlighted the shifting and situational nature of the concept, as well as the importance of self-determination for people with intellectual disabilities. The findings also highlight the importance of discussion and reflection on the concept of self-determination and its benefits for people with intellectual disabilities.

Self-Determination and Power-Sharing in Israel/Palestine

This article surveys three different concepts of political self-determination that may be applied to the Israel/Palestine conflict, and considers how they may or may not justify power-sharing arrangements of the type suggested by Brendan O’Leary. In addition, the various forms of both two-state and one-state solutions are considered for their congruence with the best understanding of self-determination. The three forms of the self-determination principle are: statist, national, and ecological. The author argues that only the last is justifiable as the basis for a settlement of the conflict, as well as more generally for twenty-first century conflicts over resources and territory. In theory, ecological self-determination would justify a one-state solution that would unify the region in order to maintain its resources sustainably. But both solutions face myriad political obstacles. The author discusses the difference between consociation and federation, two theories of power-sharing, both with disadvantages, and concludes that O’Leary has suggested an interesting approach that focuses not on the end-state solution, but on intermediate proposals to begin the process of cooperation. The author concludes by maintaining that the main obstacles are neither philosophical nor policy-oriented, but political, and suggests some reasons for cautious optimism in that regard.

A Common State in Israel–Palestine: Historical Origins and Lingering Challenges

This papers investigates Palestinian and Zionist understanding of a common state in Palestine by examining two central historical texts that promoted a one state solution in Palestine. It explores the ways in which Palestinian and Zionist nationalisms tried to address the relationship between the state and the nation as well as offered ways to protect collective and individual rights in a single polity. It also examines how each side viewed the identity and needs of the other party, in order to understand how each party thought it (im)possible to accommodate them into a single polity. The paper shows that the Palestinians, while trying to come to terms with the Jewish presence in Palestine after 1970, have often failed to appreciate the complexity of Jewish national identity in a single polity. They accepted the two states solution as an attempt to reconcile with Jewish Nationalism only to find that their political rights were further eroded. The Zionists, on the other hand, has often justified the one state solution from a purely introspective dimension, namely with regards to its congruence with Jewish needs and notions of justice. Although they tried to take into consideration Palestinians claims, they maintained an orientalist tone in their approach to Palestinian claims and options. Moving forward a discourse of rights needs to supersede a reified understanding of self-determination and provide a new political formula that can protect the collective and individual rights of all those living on the land.

Sovereignty and Crimea: How Referendum Democracy Complicates Constituent Power in Multinational Societies

AbstractThis article examines the specific issue of the referendum as an instrument in the reordering of territory, specifically in the context of the secession of Crimea from Ukraine. The article maps how in recent decades independence referendums have proliferated and considers how the Crimean situation exposes the deep pathology of uncertainty in international law and its understanding of self-determination, exposing the referendum as a dangerous outlier. The principle of democracy, present already in the context of Kosovo's unilateral independence, and which forced the hand of Canada and the UK to accommodate secessionist aspirations, is a growing feature of international legal discourse, and one which suggests that the referendum is likely to remain a potential trump card to which nationalists will appeal to overcome both constitutional impediments and the black hole of international law in the path toward statehood.

Nation-building, not “Resistance Radio”

Abstract Saami media are an important, if not invaluable, part of Saami society recognized as both a right and a service to the Saami people. In fact, the role of media and media outlets has often been referenced as a manifestation of self determination. However, whereas other Indigenous and ethnic minority media often seek clear financial independence from the state, my research shows that the Saami have a more nuanced and complicated approach. Based primarily on 25 in-depth interviews with Saami journalists, journalism educators and others who have been involved with communication I shed light on the evolving, robust and at times contested understandings of self determination as articulated, justified and practiced by Saami media makers. I argue that by not conflating self-determination with financial independence, Saami media practitioners are engaged in an evolving understanding and practice of media and self determination

Beyond Empty, Conservative, and Ethereal: Pluralist Self-Determination and a Peripheral Political Imaginary

AbstractOver the last couple of years, a stream of pluralist theories of international legal order has developed at the intersection of international law and political theory, having immediate implications for conceptualizing self-determination. The understanding of self-determination under the framework ofbounded,constitutional, andradicalpluralism markedly departs from the previous wave of normative theories in the 1990s: self-determination is now evacuated from the field of national pluralism and struggles over territory.This article does not question the thrust of pluralists’ recent work, but complements their critical attunement to global disparities of power, and complicates their neglect of nationalism and rejection of territorial reconfigurations as self-determination's core meaning. In doing so, it unearths two visions that come from the (semi-)periphery of the international political order. The first belongs to Edvard Kardelj, pre-eminent Yugoslav theorist of socialist self-management and the Non-Aligned Movement. The second belongs to Leopold Sédar Senghor, the poet and politician, advocate ofnégritude, a proponent of French West African integration, and a constitutional advocate for the reconfiguration – not abolition – of the French Union, the heir to the French Empire. While they are suspicious of extensive territorial reconstruction, like contemporary pluralists, unlike them they have seen a role for territorial reconfigurations in the name of national plurality.

Peace in Patani? The Prospect of a Settlement in Southern Thailand

The Kingdom of Patani was formally incorporated into the Kingdom of Siam a little over 100 years ago and has been in varying states of rebellion since then. This resistance has at times had a violent character, as it does right now, but has also involved a resilient attachment to various aspects of the local identity, such as the religion, language, and local historic narrative. While the right of the inhabitants of the area to legally claim self-determination under international law is tenuous, a broader understanding of self-determination may be able to support the concept of a regional autonomy arrangement within the Thai state. Prima facie, an autonomy arrangement has the potential to address many of the grievances of the Malay-Muslim community in the Patani region. There are also now some positive Southeast Asian examples of autonomy solutions made under similar circumstances, particularly Aceh and Mindanao. This possibility has entered mainstream political discussion in Thailand in recent years. However, credible and committed leadership would be needed from both sides in order for some kind of negotiated settlement to be agreed upon and implemented. Talks between an insurgent group and the Thai government began in 2013. However, these have highlighted significant challenges that would surround any peace process, particularly the dispersed nature of the insurgency.

A Self-Determination Approach to Justifying Indigenous Peoples' Participation in International Law and Policy Making

AbstractThis paper defends the legitimacy-positive impact of a “contextual-participation approach” to indigenous peoples' participation in international law-making. It argues that indigenous peoples' participation should be substantial where the issue being negotiated at the international level is of considerable interest to indigenous peoples and indigenous peoples have not consented to state representation. The “contextual-participation approach” to indigenous peoples' participation realises the justice in indigenous peoples' claims to remedial efforts to recognise their, mostly lost and historical, sovereignty, and to contemporary and evolving legal, and largely democratic, understandings of self-determination, as expressed, for example, in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. At the same time, it balances indigenous peoples' self-determination entitlements to full participation in international law making, as unjustifiably excluded sovereigns, with contemporary political realities.

Self-Determination at the Beginning of 1918 and the German Reaction

This paper examines the role of the principle of self-determination in German diplomacy and domestic debate until a peace treaty between the Central Powers and Russia was concluded in March 1918. We will first look at the position of the German government and of the Supreme Command. Thereafter we analyse the role of self-determination as expressed in the peace proposals by President Wilson and Lloyd George, both of them reacting to the Soviet initiative and challenging the German position. In the end the focus is directed to the Reichstag parties, especially the Reichstag majority, and their understanding of self-determination.

The Global Cold War (review)

Reviewed by: The Global Cold War Jeremy Black The Global Cold War. By Odd Arne Westad. New York: University of Cambridge Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-85364-8. Maps. Photographs. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Pp. xiv, 484. $35.00. This particularly impressive and clearly written account of the Cold War is especially valuable because of its global perspective, and its focus on the worldwide impact of superpower confrontation. To find, for example, an entire chapter devoted to Ethiopia and Somalia is to be reminded of the complexity and intensity of the Cold War, of the interaction of local and global tensions, and of the extent to which chronologies did not coincide. Détente, a term frequently applied to the 1970s, scarcely described the situation in the Horn of Africa. Haile Mengistu emerges from Westad's book as a particularly dangerous figure, and the Soviet willingness to overlook his reign of terror is a reminder that the tendencies associated with Stalinism continued thereafter. Ambassador Anatolii Ratanov indeed saw a similarity between the activities of Mengistu's supporters within the Derg and the early revolutionary experience in Russia. There is also an instructive chapter on Iran and Afghanistan in the same period, which indicates how opposition to the U.S. did not necessarily extend to support for the Soviet Union. Two days after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Soviet ambassador promised Khomeini assistance in any conflict with the U.S., only to be told there could "be no mutual understanding between a Muslim nation and a non-Muslim government." Westad is also good at the changing chronology of the Cold War. For example, he points out that, from the mid-1960s, it was clear to both Washington [End Page 1191] and Moscow that the focus for Cold War competition in Africa was shifting from North and Central to southern Africa, in part because of the Marxist orientation of many of that area's liberation movements. Far from being marginal, success in Africa in the 1970s is seen as giving many Soviets a renewed sense of pride in their own achievements and a conviction that the Soviet Union could contribute decisively to breakthroughs for Communism elsewhere. In practice, Africa was to disappoint the Soviets, but its relationship to the general currents of the Cold War is ably depicted. Local actors do not detract attention from the superpowers, and the coverage of the latter is apposite and clear. Thus Ronald Reagan's policies are ably discussed. Westad argues that, at least initially, Reagan's attempts at spreading counterrevolution did not push the Soviets toward withdrawal, and that, at least up to early 1987, American pressure made it more difficult for Moscow to find a way out of its Third World predicaments. Gorbachev, whom Westad is taken with, is credited with having an understanding of self-determination, but, as Westad shows, the results on the ground were often messy. He is critical of the U.S.—"Seen from a third World perspective, the results of America's interventions are truly dismal. Instead of being a force for good—which they were no doubt intended to be—these incursions have devastated many societies and left them more vulnerable to further disasters of their own making" (p. 404), and argues that the U.S. and Europe should not be surprised if the impoverished world turns on them; but his judgmental remarks strike this reviewer as overly harsh. Nevertheless, an impressive work that deserves attention. Jeremy Black University of Exeter Exeter, United Kingdom Copyright © 2006 Society for Military History