Examination of Single Subject Studies Conducted on Individuals with Disabilities by Using Self Management Strategies: A Meta Analysis Study

Abstract

Individuals with disabilities need to learn to control their own behaviors to rank among in the community. Self-management strategies are developed for this purpose. These strategies include antecedent cue regulation, self-instruction, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement. In the literature, there are researches about the effectiveness of self-management strategies on teaching various behaviors to individuals with disabilities. In this study 40 single-subject research articles conducted with individuals with disabilities and published in peer-reviewed journals in between 1999-2008 have been examined. Articles primarily have been descriptively analyzed and then examined by use of meta-analysis as the computation of effect-size. Examining the findings of the descriptive analysis, it is found out that the most commonly used strategy is self-monitoring and strategies are mostly used for people aged between 7 and 17, which is referred to as school age. The PND score obtained in the studies that were examined was found as 87.23% on average for the behaviors that were wished to be increased, compared with PZD score an average of 43.96% for the behaviors that were desired to be decreased. According to the PND and PZD scores, it is possible to say that self-management strategies are effective for those behaviors that are desired to be increased, but they are doubtful/unstable in managing behaviors that are desired to be decreased. Findings have been interpreted and discussed by considering the literature and suggestions have been submitted for the implications and future researches.