Universities around the world are undergoing a marketisation process in order to respond to consumer-oriented demands. Despite priority shifts, universities have remained traditionally hierarchical and elitist. Moreover, a new and growing generation of academic researchers has found it increasingly difficult to integrate in academia. Systems and…

Background: We examined the influence of the organizational environment on challenging behaviour in people with intellectual disabilities to increase understanding of the quality of support services for people with intellectual disabilities. Method: Twenty-one professionals and managers from four specialized Dutch disability service organizations…

The construct of school climate has received attention as a way to enhance student achievement and reduce problem behaviors. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the existing literature on school climate and to bring to light the strengths, weakness, and gaps in the ways researchers have approached the construct. The central information in…

Background: A substantial literature has established the role of the inner organizational setting on the implementation of evidence-based practices in community contexts, but very little of this research has been extended to the education sector, one of the most common settings for the delivery of mental and behavioral health services to children…

In 2006, the administration of a state-run, secure juvenile correctional facility initiated an attempt to transform its institutional culture using a strength-based approach to assessment and case planning. This resulted in a rapid improvement in institutional climate. The current study revisits this setting several years later to see if those…

Background/Context: This article addresses which school-level factors contribute to school quality. Previous research has focused on assessing the effects of school-level variables on student-level quality (e.g., achievement). However, the field has been limited in not evaluating the effects of school-level factors directly on measured…

In July 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections began delivering a two-hour training session titled Reinforcing Positive Behavior to new employees as part of their required orientation to the Department. The purpose of the training was to inform all employees about their roles and responsibilities for reinforcing positive behavior and…

Background: Few empirical studies have compared quality and outcomes for residents with intellectual disability across intentional communities such as those organised by the Camphill communities in Ireland. Method: Using a multi-element research protocol developed for an earlier large study, data were gathered about the characteristics of N = 29…

"Institutional autism" is understood as a "learned behavior" produced by an institutional environment such as an orphanage. Some autistic-like behaviors may be adaptive in an institution, but become mal-adaptive after the child's adoption into a family. A differential diagnosis between autism as a medical condition and learned…

Discusses the interrelationship between environment and behavior in institutional settings and derives therefrom some understanding of the nature of decision that determines how people live. (Author)

Reduction of environmental stress by altering utilization of living space and increase in availability of varieties of sensory stimulation were successful in improving severe behavioral problems of institutionalized profoundly and severely retarded adults. (KW)

A journalist has interviewed numerous youth and families who have placed problem children in private camps or boarding schools which promise to turn them into model citizens. Many of these programs operate outside the realm of regulators and insulate children from contact with their families. (Author)

This paper discusses factors related to negative psychological and physiological reactions (i.e., violent deaths, psychiatric commitments, self-mutilations, attempted suicides, disciplinary infractions, etc.) to life in institutional environments such as prisons, schools, off-shore oil rigs, and homes for the aged. Factors discussed are: (1)…

Excerpts from eight books present material on juvenile delinquency. Included are selections from the following: "Wayward Youth" by August Aichhorn, "The Gang" by Frederic M. Thrasher, "The Jack-Roller" by Clifford R. Shaw, "Street Corner Society" by William Foote Whyte, "Children Who Hate" by Fritz Redl and David Wineman, "The Addict in the…