Low quality of life can have an enormous impact on someone’s mental health. It can also withhold people with mental problems to recover. The aim of this study is to investigate the differences in...Show moreLow quality of life can have an enormous impact on someone’s mental health. It can also withhold people with mental problems to recover. The aim of this study is to investigate the differences in social and psychological wellbeing between adolescents with and without selective mutism. Furthermore, the relationship between speaking behavior and the two wellbeing variables are investigated. Twenty-nine adolescents with selective mutism (f = 23, m= 6, mean age = 12,78) and 45 typical developing adolescents (f = 24, m= 21, mean age = 13.31) participated in this study. All the adolescents in the selective mutism group had a parent-reported diagnosis which presence was confirmed with the SMQ. Adolescents who were in (partial) remission were excluded. An online survey was send to the participants to collect the data for this study. The online survey consisted items from original questionnaires and items with questions about background information. Social- and psychological wellbeing is measured with the KIDSSCREEN-52 and speaking behavior is measured using the SMQ. Results showed that adolescents (10 – 18 years old) with selective mutism have lower psychological and social wellbeing than their typically developing peers. Furthermore, the presence of comorbid ASS above a diagnosis of selective mutism has a more negative impact on social wellbeing, but not psychological wellbeing, in comparison to adolescents with a single diagnosis selective mutism. Results have also shown that there is a positive relationship between the amount of difficulties in speaking behavior and social wellbeing but not for psychological wellbeing. These results implicate that adolescents with selective mutism have not only problems with expressing themselves in a verbal way but also experience a lower psychological and social quality of life than their typical developing peers. National Mental Health services should therefore not only pay attention to reducing the anxious behavior itself, but also look for ways to improve the psychological and social wellbeing of adolescents with selective mutism.Show less
Introduction: This thesis focuses on Quality of Life as defined by Schalock. Research has been performed to see if different assessed parts of Quality of Life of residents at Ipse de Bruggen match...Show moreIntroduction: This thesis focuses on Quality of Life as defined by Schalock. Research has been performed to see if different assessed parts of Quality of Life of residents at Ipse de Bruggen match the amount of developmental goals aimed at these areas. How does quality of life appear in support plans at Ipse de Bruggen? Method: An assessment was made of current Quality of Life at Ipse de Bruggen. Following this developmental goals were collected and coded based on which part of Quality of Life they were part of. The results of the assessment and coding of developmental goals were then compared. Finally, the outcomes were verified using several interviews with behavioral experts working at Ipse de Bruggen. Results: The assessment of different components of Quality of Life greatly don't match the amount of goals put up on these areas. Noteworthy is how Social Inclusion scores lowest but also has few goals striving to improve this. Focus seems to lie on the area of Personal Development. This scores around the median. However, when compared with level of development. It is seen that Personal Development gets lower scores the lower the developmental level of the client. There have also been indications that these developmental goals don't seem to actually match the desired level of quality needed for effective use. Discussion: It can be concluded that developmental goals do not always match the assessed Quality of Life of clients. There seems to be a sort of hierarchy in this construct where certain components of Quality of Life have to be fulfilled first before attention can be switched to different aspects of this construct. There also seems to be insufficient knowledge of the definitions of aspects of Quality of Life under carers. More focus on schooling could be a solution to this. It is recommended to perform follow-up research to see if different parts of Quality of Life return in the way in people of different developmental levels. It is also recommended to further research the current quality of developmental goals in Ipse de Bruggen.Show less
