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Resource utilization by children with developmental disabilities in Kenya: discrepancy analysis of parents’ expectation-to-importance appraisals
Research in Developmental Disabilities 23 (2002) 191±201
Resource utilization by children with developmental disabilities in Kenya: discrepancy analysis of parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals N. Kagendo Mutuaa,*, Janice Williams Millerb, Mwarumba Mwavitab a
College of Education, University of Alabama, P.O. Box 870232, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0232, USA b Oklahoma State University, OK, USA
Received 18 May 2001; received in revised form 20 September 2001; accepted 17 December 2001
Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe parental perceptions of eight physical and human resources available to meet the needs of children with developmental disabilities in Kenya. Speci®cally, the study assessed the discrepancy between the importance parents attached to speci®ed resources and the expected use of those resources by their children with developmental disabilities. Discrepancy analysis was conducted on parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals of eight resources identi®ed in previous research including, health, education, friendships, husband/wife, religious organization, community membership/acceptance, employment/work, and home. Overall, parental appraisal of likely accessto-importance was signi®cantly related across all eight physical and human resource areas. Discrepancy scores ranged from negative, through zero, to positive, categorized underutilized, congruent, and over-utilized, respectively. Chi-square analyses were non-signi®cant for gender across all resources with only slight gender differences noted on three resources. Most parents reported a match between expected use and importance in ®ve of the eight community resources; health (57.4%), friends (54.6%), religious af®liation (59.8%), acceptance in the community (60.3%), and having one's own home (62.6%). However, ``husband/wife'' fell outside the congruent range (50.4%), with slight gender differences noted. Finally, two resource areas where the majority of parents reported non-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: 1-205-348-2609; fax: 1-205-348-9863. E-mail address: [email protected] (N.K. Mutua).
0891-4222/02/$ ± see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 8 9 1 - 4 2 2 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 9 7 - 5
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congruence were educational programs and employment/career service. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: developmental disabilities; resource utilization; appraisal
Researchers in the US and elsewhere have been working toward identifying the resources that optimally aid children with developmental disabilities in order for them to attain quality of life experiences. Recurrent resources cited include health, friendship, education, marital status/family, religious organization, and work (Campbell, 1981; Mutua, 1999; Newman & Cameto, 1993; Roessler, 1990; Schalock, 1990). Further studies (Dennis, Williams, Giangreco, & Cloniger, 1993) have suggested that such resources can be divided into inter-related categories (e.g., social, physical/material, psychological). In special education, particularly in the area of transition, research indicates that the majority of students with developmental disabilities will require multiple resources to reach their full potential (Flexer, 1983) as fully functioning adults (Hallahan & Kauffman, 2000). Descriptions of critical resources have typically been derived from studies of children with disabilities in developed countries. Little is known about the speci®c resources available to children with developmental disabilities in developing nations. Indeed, one of the toughest challenges faced by many Third World countries is ensuring equitable resource use by all children (Nkinyangi & Van der Vynckt, 1994; Talik, 1991). The rights of children with disabilities are currently being discussed in developing nations like Kenya, which has recently adopted national educational policies designed to enhance self-suf®ciency for all students (Eisemon, Ong'esa, & Hart, 1989). However, limited policies and funding for those with disabilities, along with negative cultural attitudes toward disabilities in general, may be serving to suppress national attempts to address resource issues related to children with disabilities within developing countries (Obiakor, Maltby, & Ihunnah, 1990). Further, within developing countries resource availability is often predicated upon the prevailing mechanisms of external funding (Bradshaw, Noonan, Gash, & Sershen, 1993; Lauglo, 1996). Most donor agencies demand that foreign aid to Third World countries be utilized in ways that result in quanti®able ends. Thus, research to obtain empirical evidence of the resources commonly used to assist children with developmental disabilities in a developing nation like Kenya appears warranted. Research has found strong correlational evidence linking children's access to resources with parent's expectations of the bene®ts to the children (Carnie & Orelove, 1988). Indeed, based upon results obtained from families of children with disabilities in Kenya, Mutua (1999) reports that those who are motivated to use resources typically hold high expectations about the quality of life available to their children. One long-standing perspective on motivation is expectancy-value theory. Proponents of this model argue that behavior can be explained by the extent to which an outcome is valued (Atkinson, 1957). The expectancy-value tradition provides a framework for exploring the motivational factors that underlie
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individual's decisions regarding various activities and choices. In other words, expectancy-value theory links choice to expectations and to the importance individuals attach to available choice options. Most work in the area has focused on school performance and achievement-related choice (Eccles et al., 1983; Wig®eld & Eccles, 1992). However, evaluations of the utility of the model have led to a re®nement of related constructs (Feather, 1992) with current research expanding the model to include resource choice (Eccles & Harold, 1991). The crucial role of outcome expectations and internal values in serving as motivational determinants has also been noted by social cognitive theorists (e.g., Bandura, 1986). More to the point, Bandura (1989) has posited that the perceived discrepancy between an internal standard and an expected outcome stimulates action to reduce the incongruity. In the context of the current study, the motivation for resource use is proposed to be re¯ected by the discrepancy between the reported importance of a resource and the expected actual use of that resource by families of children with developmental disabilities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the parental perceptions of eight physical and human resources available to help meet the needs of children with developmental disabilities in Kenya. More speci®cally, this research assessed the discrepancy between the importance parents attached to a resource and the expected use of that resource to facilitate service utilization. 1. Method 1.1. Participants The participants were families of children with developmental disabilities (64% boys; 36% girls). The children included those with a physical disability (N 91), mental retardation [mild (N 105), moderate (N 107), or severe (N 52)], children with a hearing or visual impairment [hard of hearing (N 39), deaf (N 45); partially sighted (N 27, blind (N 49)], and those with autism (N 11). Families were drawn from four districts in Kenya, two rural districts (Meru and Kitui, both located in Eastern Province) and two urban districts (Kiambu and Nairobi, located in Central and Nairobi provinces, respectively). The highest percentages of families were of the Kikuyu ethnic background (44%) followed by Kamba (20%), Meru (13%), Luo (9%), and Luhyia (8%). The remaining 6% included families from other ethnic groups, such as Giriama, Samburu, Somali, Kisii, Kalenjin, and Embu. Overall, the samples tended to be ethnically homogeneous (99% of African descent) with 98% being of Christian religious af®liation. About 45% of responding parents had up to primary education, with 55% indicating secondary or higher education. Although education and income are typically related in most developing countries, parental income was intentionally omitted from this analysis due to the high levels of in¯ation at the time this research was conducted.
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1.2. Instrument Current literacy estimates of 60±70% have been reported among Kenyans (Ministry of Economic Planning and National Development, 1994), therefore, the survey developed for this study required at least a primary-school level of literacy for completion. Parents responded to demographic questions, where they also noted their child's gender and the type and severity of that child's disabling condition. Parents also appraised eight different physical and human resources that were available in the community to meet the needs of their child with disabilities. Parental appraisal included both a rating of the importance or value of that resource, and a rating of the likelihood that their child would, in fact, have access to that resource. The responses in each area (importance and expected use) were then scored along a 5-point Likert-type scale, which ranged from 1 (highly unimportant/highly unlikely) to 5 (very important/very likely). Cronbach's coef®cient alpha estimates generated with the sample data revealed adequate internal consistency reliabilities (importance :750); expected use :837) for these two appraisals. 1.3. Procedure This study was approved by the Ministry of Education in Kenya as a part of a larger study on factors affecting the education of children with disabilities. About 50% of Kenya's special education schools are located in the three provinces (Eastern, Central, Nairobi) that were thus, targeted for inclusion in the study. Children with disabilities that were enrolled in school were identi®ed through school enrollment records provided by Provincial and District Directors of Education. Identi®ed families of children with developmental disabilities were then randomly selected and those consenting to participation were either selfadministered the questionnaire distributed to them by school authorities or had the questionnaire hand-delivered and orally administered to them by the researcher. The ®nal sample (N 351) represents a return rate of 78% of the total number of questionnaires distributed to families of children with developmental disabilities within the selected provinces. 2. Results Overall, parental appraisal of likely access-to-importance was signi®cantly related (p < :01) across all eight physical and human resource areas. Calculated Pearson bivariate correlations ranged from .275 to .513, with shared variance ranging from 8% to 26%. Similarly, all product-moment coef®cients reached statistical signi®cance (p < :01) for both girls and boys, with r-values ranging from .217 to .682, and from .271 to .582, respectively. Parental-appraisal discrepancy scores (expected use minus importance) were computed for all participants. Discrepancy scores ranged from negative, through
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zero, to positive. Negative discrepancy scores were derived for those parents who believed access to a resource was important for their child but had low expectation of actual resource use (labeled under-utilization). Zero scores re¯ected an expectation-to-importance match (labeled congruence). Parents in this appraisal category tended to believe that the resource was both valued and likely to be used, or that a resource was not important and use was unlikely. Positive discrepancy scores were obtained for those parents who indicated expected use of a resource was more likely than the importance attached to that resource (labeled overutilization). The number, and percentages, of scores falling into an expectation-to-importance classi®cation system are displayed in Table 1. The cut-off values for ®ve discrepancy categories were determined by Dowling (1978) and further supported with expectancy-value research with non-disabled, average-ability students (Hackett & Betz, 1989) and among academically gifted students (Williams, 1998). The number of girls and boys falling into each of the ®ve discrepancy categories was also determined. Chi-square analyses conducted with these frequencies were non-signi®cant, suggesting that the overall discrepancy pattern did not depend on gender. In other words, there were few differences between the numbers of boys and girls falling into the ®ve discrepancy levels across the eight resource areas. Frequency values of the number of children represented in the negative, zero, and positive categories for the full sample are presented in Table 1. As noted there, the majority of the values indicate that most parents reported a match between expected use and importance in ®ve of the eight community resources; health (57.4%), friends (54.6%), religious af®liation (59.8%), acceptance in the community (60.3%), and a home in the community (62.6%). Regarding a signi®cant other for their disabled child, the majority of parental discrepancy ratings fell outside the congruent range (50.4%), although it should be noted that small gender differences did exist with respect to this resource Table 1 Full sample (N 351) discrepancy frequencies and percentages by resource Resource
Health (N 277) Education (N 276) Friends (N 273) Wife/husband (N 271) Religious (N 271) Acceptance (N 272) Employ/career (N 270) Home (N 270)
Discrepancy category Negative; under-utilized
Zero; congruence
Below 0.80
0.40 to 0.40
0.41 to 0.79
Positive; over-utilized Above 0.80
159 125 149 134 162 164 118 169
11 17 40 60 32 21 25 8
0 0 2 2 0 1 2 2
12 36 20 12 13 19 29 18
(4.3%) (13.0%) (7.3%) (4.4%) (4.8%) (7.0%) (10.7%) (6.7%)
0.79 to 0.41 95 98 62 63 64 67 96 73
(34.3%) (35.5%) (22.7%) (23.2%) (23.6%) (24.6%) (35.6%) (27.0%)
(57.4%) (45.3%) (54.6%) (49.4%) (59.8%) (60.3%) (43.7%) (62.6%)
(4.0%) (6.2%) (14.7%) (22.1%) (11.8%) (7.7%) (9.3%) (3.0%)
(0.7%) (0.7%) (0.4%) (0.7%) (0.7%)
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Table 2 Discrepancy percentages by gender (N 351) Resource
Wife/husband Education Employ/career
Discrepancy category Negative; under-utilized
Zero; congruence
Positive; over-utilized
Boys
Girls
Boys
Girls
Boys
Girls
31.9 52.1 42.8
24.0 43.3 52.6
46.6 41.9 44.2
53.1 49.5 41.1
21.5 6.0 12.3
22.9 7.2 6.4
(see Table 2). Whereas 53.1% of appraisals for ``husband'' indicated congruence only 46.6% of parents reported congruence regarding ``wife''. Most parents in the non-congruent category (31.9%) tended to believe a wife was important but inaccessible to their male children with disabilities. There were two resource areas where the majority of parents reported noncongruence; educational programs and employment/career service. Further, in both of these areas, parents tended to report the resource as more important than accessible to their developmentally disabled child (48.5 and 46.3%, respectively). Interestingly, as shown in Table 2, most parental ratings for boys fell outside the congruent range in the area of education (58.1%). Of these non-congruent responses, 52.1% of parents of boys revealed education to be more important than it was accessible whereas only 43.3% of parents of girls reported this perception. For parents of girls, appraisals of employment/career services (59.0%) tended to fall outside the congruent category. Among parents reporting non-congruence in this area, 52.6% believed this resource was under-utilized by girls, with only 42.8% reporting employment/career to be more important than it was accessible to boys. 3. Discussion This study has attempted to answer important questions that previous research has not attempted about resource utilization by children with developmental disabilities in a developing country. Within this study, parental perceptions of eight physical and human resources necessary to meet the needs of children with developmental disabilities in Kenya are described. By assessing the discrepancy between the level of importance that parents attached to a particular resource and their appraisal of the expected use of that resource, this study provides insights into two important and inter-related issues. Firstly, this study tells us what resources parents believe are important for their children with developmental disabilities. Secondly, this study also tells us whether parents believe that their children with developmental disabilities will actually utilize particular resources regardless of the level of importance they attach to it. This information is critical to our understanding of how resources are utilized by children with developmental
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disabilities in Kenya while at the same time explaining the over/under-utilization of resources by those children. Overall, parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals of the eight resources were not signi®cantly affected by the child's gender. These ®ndings are different from previous studies where parent expectations of children with mental retardation in Kenya were signi®cantly affected by the child's gender (Mutua & Dimitrov, 2001a). In addition, this study provides new ®ndings in that resource utilization by children with developmental disabilities within developing countries has not been investigated in previous studies. On ®ve of the resources including, health, friends, religious af®liation, acceptance by the community, and having one's own home, this study found that there was a match between parents' appraisals of expectation-to-importance of each of those resources regardless of the child's gender. A closer examination of those resources reveals their generic nature, which is to say that those resources are not de®ned by the unique needs of persons with developmental disabilities who utilize them, but rather they are generic and would be available to general population without any modi®cations. In essence, the level of importance or lack of importance that parents attach to those speci®c resources would perhaps not be dependent upon or determined by the child's developmental disability. In contrast, parent's appraisals of expectation-to-importance of three of the resources including education, wife/husband, and employment/career fell within the non-congruent range. Further, slight gender differences were found for parent's expectation-to-importance appraisals in those three resources regardless of the discrepancy category their appraisals fell into overall. With regard to having a wife/husband, although parent's appraisals fell into the congruence category, appraisals for ``husband'' were higher (53.2%) than appraisals for ``wife'' (46.6%). In other words, in general parents believed that having a spouse was important for their children with developmental disabilities, but majority of parents in the non-congruent category thought that the male children were unlikely to have a spouse. Thus, while parents agreed on the importance of their sons with developmental disabilities to have a wife, they nonetheless believed that their sons would not actually be able to get a wife. Placed within the broad context of the Kenyan culture, these ®ndings are consistent with cultural practices regarding marriage and adult gender roles. Culturally, males are expected to be the providers for their families. Additionally, men are expected not only to be the primary bread-earner for a family, but also to pay dowry to the bride's family. The perceptions about their ability to accomplish these culturally-ascribed male gender-roles may be compromised because of their having a developmental disability. Thus, while parents might indeed wish for their sons to be married, the likelihood of this actually happening is grossly diminished by the perception that their developmental disability limits or inhibits their ability to ful®ll cultural roles expected of them as husbands. On the other hand, there was congruence in parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals of their female children with developmental disabilities relative to having a spouse. This means that parents fully expected that despite their
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disabling conditions, girls with developmental disabilities would indeed be able to ®nd a husband. A possible explanation that is consistent with traditional cultural roles of females in Kenya is that as long as the girl is able to perform the cultural duties such as bearing children, cooking, taking care of the home, the likelihood of getting a spouse is almost assured. These ®ndings appear to be consistent with previous studies whereby parents' expectations about the achievement of adult responsibilities were higher for boys with mental retardation in Kenya than girls (Mutua & Dimitrov, 2001b). However, this study provides new insights in that expectations and importance constructs of each resource are investigated simultaneously. This simultaneous investigation of parents' appraisals of the resources in terms of their expected use versus their importance allows for a much richer analysis of how and why particular resources are over/or under-utilized by children with developmental disabilities in Kenya. Two resources that yielded interesting ®ndings were education and career/ employment. In general, the appraisals for these resources emerged as incongruent with parents' rating these resources on one hand as important for their children with developmental disabilities, but yet believing that their children were actually unlikely to utilize them. With regard to the high level of importance that parents attached to education, this is congruent with research from Kenya and indeed developing countries where education is highly valued and desirable for children with and without disabilities (Mutua, 2001). Previous research from developing countries has shown the correlational nature of the association between education and career/employment, with higher levels of education correlating with higher employment rates and easier access to better career/ employment. This study, however, expands previous research by providing information about parents' appraisals of the importance versus the likelihood of their children with developmental disabilities actually utilizing or participating in education and/or having a career/being employed. These results indicate that despite the high value parents place on education of their children with developmental disabilities, these children were quite unlikely to utilize those resources. Some possible explanations for these discrepancies might include cultural barriers to the education of children with developmental disabilities. Previous studies in developing countries have shown that, in general, children with disabilities are among those least likely to receive education (Stuecher & Suarez, 2000; World Bank, 1995). Indeed studies have shown that parents chose not to enroll their children with disabilities in school solely because of the disabling condition (Mutua, 2001; Mutua & Dimitrov, 2001a, 2001b). Additionally, the discrepancy could also be a function of scarcity of specialized educational and career/employment services for persons with developmental disabilities within many developing countries like Kenya. Therefore, regardless of how important parents might think education and career/employment is for their children with developmental disabilities, the absence of these resources within those countries is a much more signi®cant consideration in their appraisal of the likelihood that their children with developmental disabilities would actually access those services. On the other hand, parents may have appraised those resources as being
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unlikely to be utilized by their children with disabilities because of the high costs associated with their utilization. Indeed, the high cost of education in many developing countries is well-documented (see, e.g., Swadener, Kabiru, & Njenga, 2000). Not surprising though was that parents' appraisals of employment/career services for girls fell outside the congruent category, suggesting an underutilization of those resources by girls with developmental disabilities. Relative to the apparent under-utilization of employment/career services by girls with developmental disabilities, from a cultural stand-point, girls with or without disabilities are expected to be home-makers and not expected to have careers or employment outside of the home. While these traditional beliefs about gender roles have changed rapidly with the introduction of cash-economies in many African countries, including Kenya (see, e.g., Swadener et al., 2000), those beliefs have persisted with regard to women with disabilities (Nkinyangi & Mbindyo, 1982). In contrast, parents' appraisals of education for girls fell in the congruent category. The congruence in parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals of girls' education could also be indicative of low importance attached to education of girls with developmental disabilities and therefore, low expectation that those girls would in fact utilize educational resources. Taken together, these ®ndings suggest that parents generally report over-utilization of those resources, but they are more frequently under-utilized. This is particularly true of educational resources for boys with developmental disabilities and career/employment for girls with developmental disabilities. Current research on employment of persons with developmental disabilities in the US has shown that only a small minority of workers with disabilities actually required highly specialized retro®tting in order to function optimally at a job (Harris & Associates Inc., 1994). According to Harris & Associates Inc. (1994) prevailing public belief is that majority of persons with disabilities require highly specialized equipment or modi®cations in order to function in a work environment. With regard to utilization of ``education'' and ``career/employment'' similar beliefs about the degree of specialization of materials and educational and work environments may be held by Kenyan parents, and therefore, explain the under-utilization of those resources. Believing that their children with developmental disabilities can only bene®t from special education and not general education, and believing that their children can only bene®t from supported employment or specialized career training programs and not general employment programs, parents' may, therefore, hold them as unimportant and unlikely to be used. This is particularly so since those highly specialized resources are unavailable or inaccessible to the majority of children with developmental disabilities within a large majority of developing countries, including Kenya. In summary, the results from this study draw attention to issues related to resources for persons with developmental disabilities. The information on how persons with developmental disabilities utilize those resources, particularly the physical resources may indeed provide useful information to policy makers when
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making decisions about resource allocation. Policy makers may need to pay close attention to parents' ideas and the role parents play in determining resources that their children will ultimately utilize. Further, the results of this study indicate that only a very small number of parents reported an over-utilization of the resources. However, a large number was reported on the under-utilization category. This suggests a scarcity or inaccessibility of resources to children with developmental disabilities in Kenya. Further research in this area could focus on those parents who reported congruency. It is not clear whether it implied that the parents valued the resource and therefore, expected that their children would in fact use it or that they did not value it and thus, did not expect their children to use that resource. These issues of access to resources, importance, expected use, and availability are critical questions that policy makers and parents should collaborate on when attempting to ®nd answers. References Atkinson, J. W. (1957). Motivational determinants of risk taking behavior. Psychological Review, 64, 359±372. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Bandura, A. (1989). Human agency in social cognitive theory. American Psychologist, 44(9), 1175± 1184. Bradshaw, Y. W., Noonan, R., Gash, L., & Sershen, C. B. (1993). Borrowing against the future: Children and Third World indebtedness. Social Forces, 71, 629±656. Campbell, A. (1981). The sense of well-being in America. New York: McGraw-Hill. Carnie, I. H., & Orelove, F. P. (1988). Implementing transition programs for community participation. In B. L. Ludlow, A. P. Turnbull, & R. Luckasson (Eds.), Transitions to adult life for people with mental retardationÐprinciples and practices (pp. 137±158). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes. Dennis, R. E., Williams, W., Giangreco, M. F., & Cloniger, C. J. (1993). Quality of life as context for planning and evaluation of services for people with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 59(6), 499±512. Dowling, D. M. (1978). The development of a mathematics confidence scale and its application in the study of confidence in women college students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Columbus: Ohio State University. Eccles, J. S., Adler, T. F., Futterman, R., Goff, S. B., Kaczala, C. M., Meece, J. L., & Midgley, C. (1983). Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors. In J. T. Spence (Ed.), Achievement and achievement motivation (pp. 75±146). San Francisco, CA: Freeman. Eccles, J. S., & Harold, R. D. (1991). Gender differences in sport involvement: Applying the Eccles' expectancy-value model. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 3, 7±35. Eisemon, T. W., Ong'esa, , & Hart, (1989). A note on language instruction, teaching, and cognitive outcomes of science instruction in primary schools in Kisii and Kwale Districts, Kenya. Kenya Journal of Education, 4(2), 153±165. Feather, N. T. (1992). Values, valences, expectations, and actions. Journal of Social Issues, 48, 109± 124. Flexer, R. W. (1983). Habilitation services of developmentally disabled persons. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 14(3), 6±12. Hackett, G., & Betz, N. E. (1989). An exploration of the mathematics self-efficacy/mathematics performance correspondence. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 20, 261±273.
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Hallahan, P. D., & Kauffman, J. M. (2000). Exceptional learners: Introduction to special education (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Harris & Associates, Inc. (1994). N.O.D./Harris survey of Americans with disabilities (Study No. 942003). New York: Author. Lauglo, J. (1996). Banking on education and the uses of research: A critique of World Bank priorities and strategies for education. International Journal of Educational Development, 16, 221±233. Ministry of Economic Planning and National Development. (1994). Country data. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printer. Mutua, N. K. (1999). Macro- and micro-level factors that predict educational participation among children with disabilities in Kenya. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Ohio: Kent State University. Mutua, N. K. (2001). Importance of parents' expectations and beliefs in the educational participation of children with mental retardation in Kenya. Education and Training In Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 36(2), 148±159. Mutua, N. K., & Dimitrov, D. (2001a). Prediction of school enrollment of children with intellectual disabilities in Kenya: The role of parents' expectations, beliefs, and education. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 48(2), 179±191. Mutua, N. K., & Dimitrov, D. (2001b). Parents' expectations about the outcomes of children with mental retardation in Kenya: Differential effects of child's gender and severity of mental retardation. Journal of Special Education, 35(3), 172±180. Newman, L., & Cameto, R. (1993). What makes a difference? Factors related to postsecondary school attendance for young people with disabilities. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA. Nkinyangi, J. A., & Mbindyo, J. (1982). The condition of disabled persons in Kenya: Results of a national survey. Nairobi: Institute for Development studies, University of Nairobi. Nkinyangi, J. A., & Van der Vynckt, S. (1994). Child health, nutrition and educational participation. A technical support services (TSS-1) report for Government of Kenya. UNESCO. Obiakor, F. E., Maltby, G. P., & Ihunnah, A. C. (1990). Special education policies in Nigeria: Cultural, socio-economic and political issues. Paper presented at the international convention of the Council of Exceptional Children, Toronto, Canada. Roessler, T. (1990). A quality of life perspective on rehabilitation counseling. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 34(2), 82±90. Schalock, R. L. (Ed.) (1990). Quality of life: Perspectives and issues. Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation. Stuecher, U., & Suarez, J. (2000). Research in special education from the perspective of a country in development: Ecuador. Exceptionality, 8(4), 289±298. Swadener, B. B., Kabiru, M., & Njenga, A. (2000). Does the village still raise the child? A collaborative study of changing child-rearing and early education in Kenya. New York: State University of New York Press. Talik, J. B. G. (1991). Family and government investment in education. International Journal of Educational Development, 11, 91±106. Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. S. (1992). The development of achievement task values: A theoretical analysis. Developmental Review, 12, 1±41. Williams, J. E. (1998). Self-concept-performance congruence: An exploration of patterns among high-achieving adolescents. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 21, 415±422. World Bank (1995). Education sector review. Washington DC: World Bank.
Resource utilization by children with developmental disabilities in Kenya: discrepancy analysis of parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals N. Kagendo Mutuaa,*, Janice Williams Millerb, Mwarumba Mwavitab a
College of Education, University of Alabama, P.O. Box 870232, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0232, USA b Oklahoma State University, OK, USA
Received 18 May 2001; received in revised form 20 September 2001; accepted 17 December 2001
Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe parental perceptions of eight physical and human resources available to meet the needs of children with developmental disabilities in Kenya. Speci®cally, the study assessed the discrepancy between the importance parents attached to speci®ed resources and the expected use of those resources by their children with developmental disabilities. Discrepancy analysis was conducted on parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals of eight resources identi®ed in previous research including, health, education, friendships, husband/wife, religious organization, community membership/acceptance, employment/work, and home. Overall, parental appraisal of likely accessto-importance was signi®cantly related across all eight physical and human resource areas. Discrepancy scores ranged from negative, through zero, to positive, categorized underutilized, congruent, and over-utilized, respectively. Chi-square analyses were non-signi®cant for gender across all resources with only slight gender differences noted on three resources. Most parents reported a match between expected use and importance in ®ve of the eight community resources; health (57.4%), friends (54.6%), religious af®liation (59.8%), acceptance in the community (60.3%), and having one's own home (62.6%). However, ``husband/wife'' fell outside the congruent range (50.4%), with slight gender differences noted. Finally, two resource areas where the majority of parents reported non-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: 1-205-348-2609; fax: 1-205-348-9863. E-mail address: [email protected] (N.K. Mutua).
0891-4222/02/$ ± see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 8 9 1 - 4 2 2 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 9 7 - 5
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congruence were educational programs and employment/career service. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: developmental disabilities; resource utilization; appraisal
Researchers in the US and elsewhere have been working toward identifying the resources that optimally aid children with developmental disabilities in order for them to attain quality of life experiences. Recurrent resources cited include health, friendship, education, marital status/family, religious organization, and work (Campbell, 1981; Mutua, 1999; Newman & Cameto, 1993; Roessler, 1990; Schalock, 1990). Further studies (Dennis, Williams, Giangreco, & Cloniger, 1993) have suggested that such resources can be divided into inter-related categories (e.g., social, physical/material, psychological). In special education, particularly in the area of transition, research indicates that the majority of students with developmental disabilities will require multiple resources to reach their full potential (Flexer, 1983) as fully functioning adults (Hallahan & Kauffman, 2000). Descriptions of critical resources have typically been derived from studies of children with disabilities in developed countries. Little is known about the speci®c resources available to children with developmental disabilities in developing nations. Indeed, one of the toughest challenges faced by many Third World countries is ensuring equitable resource use by all children (Nkinyangi & Van der Vynckt, 1994; Talik, 1991). The rights of children with disabilities are currently being discussed in developing nations like Kenya, which has recently adopted national educational policies designed to enhance self-suf®ciency for all students (Eisemon, Ong'esa, & Hart, 1989). However, limited policies and funding for those with disabilities, along with negative cultural attitudes toward disabilities in general, may be serving to suppress national attempts to address resource issues related to children with disabilities within developing countries (Obiakor, Maltby, & Ihunnah, 1990). Further, within developing countries resource availability is often predicated upon the prevailing mechanisms of external funding (Bradshaw, Noonan, Gash, & Sershen, 1993; Lauglo, 1996). Most donor agencies demand that foreign aid to Third World countries be utilized in ways that result in quanti®able ends. Thus, research to obtain empirical evidence of the resources commonly used to assist children with developmental disabilities in a developing nation like Kenya appears warranted. Research has found strong correlational evidence linking children's access to resources with parent's expectations of the bene®ts to the children (Carnie & Orelove, 1988). Indeed, based upon results obtained from families of children with disabilities in Kenya, Mutua (1999) reports that those who are motivated to use resources typically hold high expectations about the quality of life available to their children. One long-standing perspective on motivation is expectancy-value theory. Proponents of this model argue that behavior can be explained by the extent to which an outcome is valued (Atkinson, 1957). The expectancy-value tradition provides a framework for exploring the motivational factors that underlie
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individual's decisions regarding various activities and choices. In other words, expectancy-value theory links choice to expectations and to the importance individuals attach to available choice options. Most work in the area has focused on school performance and achievement-related choice (Eccles et al., 1983; Wig®eld & Eccles, 1992). However, evaluations of the utility of the model have led to a re®nement of related constructs (Feather, 1992) with current research expanding the model to include resource choice (Eccles & Harold, 1991). The crucial role of outcome expectations and internal values in serving as motivational determinants has also been noted by social cognitive theorists (e.g., Bandura, 1986). More to the point, Bandura (1989) has posited that the perceived discrepancy between an internal standard and an expected outcome stimulates action to reduce the incongruity. In the context of the current study, the motivation for resource use is proposed to be re¯ected by the discrepancy between the reported importance of a resource and the expected actual use of that resource by families of children with developmental disabilities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the parental perceptions of eight physical and human resources available to help meet the needs of children with developmental disabilities in Kenya. More speci®cally, this research assessed the discrepancy between the importance parents attached to a resource and the expected use of that resource to facilitate service utilization. 1. Method 1.1. Participants The participants were families of children with developmental disabilities (64% boys; 36% girls). The children included those with a physical disability (N 91), mental retardation [mild (N 105), moderate (N 107), or severe (N 52)], children with a hearing or visual impairment [hard of hearing (N 39), deaf (N 45); partially sighted (N 27, blind (N 49)], and those with autism (N 11). Families were drawn from four districts in Kenya, two rural districts (Meru and Kitui, both located in Eastern Province) and two urban districts (Kiambu and Nairobi, located in Central and Nairobi provinces, respectively). The highest percentages of families were of the Kikuyu ethnic background (44%) followed by Kamba (20%), Meru (13%), Luo (9%), and Luhyia (8%). The remaining 6% included families from other ethnic groups, such as Giriama, Samburu, Somali, Kisii, Kalenjin, and Embu. Overall, the samples tended to be ethnically homogeneous (99% of African descent) with 98% being of Christian religious af®liation. About 45% of responding parents had up to primary education, with 55% indicating secondary or higher education. Although education and income are typically related in most developing countries, parental income was intentionally omitted from this analysis due to the high levels of in¯ation at the time this research was conducted.
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1.2. Instrument Current literacy estimates of 60±70% have been reported among Kenyans (Ministry of Economic Planning and National Development, 1994), therefore, the survey developed for this study required at least a primary-school level of literacy for completion. Parents responded to demographic questions, where they also noted their child's gender and the type and severity of that child's disabling condition. Parents also appraised eight different physical and human resources that were available in the community to meet the needs of their child with disabilities. Parental appraisal included both a rating of the importance or value of that resource, and a rating of the likelihood that their child would, in fact, have access to that resource. The responses in each area (importance and expected use) were then scored along a 5-point Likert-type scale, which ranged from 1 (highly unimportant/highly unlikely) to 5 (very important/very likely). Cronbach's coef®cient alpha estimates generated with the sample data revealed adequate internal consistency reliabilities (importance :750); expected use :837) for these two appraisals. 1.3. Procedure This study was approved by the Ministry of Education in Kenya as a part of a larger study on factors affecting the education of children with disabilities. About 50% of Kenya's special education schools are located in the three provinces (Eastern, Central, Nairobi) that were thus, targeted for inclusion in the study. Children with disabilities that were enrolled in school were identi®ed through school enrollment records provided by Provincial and District Directors of Education. Identi®ed families of children with developmental disabilities were then randomly selected and those consenting to participation were either selfadministered the questionnaire distributed to them by school authorities or had the questionnaire hand-delivered and orally administered to them by the researcher. The ®nal sample (N 351) represents a return rate of 78% of the total number of questionnaires distributed to families of children with developmental disabilities within the selected provinces. 2. Results Overall, parental appraisal of likely access-to-importance was signi®cantly related (p < :01) across all eight physical and human resource areas. Calculated Pearson bivariate correlations ranged from .275 to .513, with shared variance ranging from 8% to 26%. Similarly, all product-moment coef®cients reached statistical signi®cance (p < :01) for both girls and boys, with r-values ranging from .217 to .682, and from .271 to .582, respectively. Parental-appraisal discrepancy scores (expected use minus importance) were computed for all participants. Discrepancy scores ranged from negative, through
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zero, to positive. Negative discrepancy scores were derived for those parents who believed access to a resource was important for their child but had low expectation of actual resource use (labeled under-utilization). Zero scores re¯ected an expectation-to-importance match (labeled congruence). Parents in this appraisal category tended to believe that the resource was both valued and likely to be used, or that a resource was not important and use was unlikely. Positive discrepancy scores were obtained for those parents who indicated expected use of a resource was more likely than the importance attached to that resource (labeled overutilization). The number, and percentages, of scores falling into an expectation-to-importance classi®cation system are displayed in Table 1. The cut-off values for ®ve discrepancy categories were determined by Dowling (1978) and further supported with expectancy-value research with non-disabled, average-ability students (Hackett & Betz, 1989) and among academically gifted students (Williams, 1998). The number of girls and boys falling into each of the ®ve discrepancy categories was also determined. Chi-square analyses conducted with these frequencies were non-signi®cant, suggesting that the overall discrepancy pattern did not depend on gender. In other words, there were few differences between the numbers of boys and girls falling into the ®ve discrepancy levels across the eight resource areas. Frequency values of the number of children represented in the negative, zero, and positive categories for the full sample are presented in Table 1. As noted there, the majority of the values indicate that most parents reported a match between expected use and importance in ®ve of the eight community resources; health (57.4%), friends (54.6%), religious af®liation (59.8%), acceptance in the community (60.3%), and a home in the community (62.6%). Regarding a signi®cant other for their disabled child, the majority of parental discrepancy ratings fell outside the congruent range (50.4%), although it should be noted that small gender differences did exist with respect to this resource Table 1 Full sample (N 351) discrepancy frequencies and percentages by resource Resource
Health (N 277) Education (N 276) Friends (N 273) Wife/husband (N 271) Religious (N 271) Acceptance (N 272) Employ/career (N 270) Home (N 270)
Discrepancy category Negative; under-utilized
Zero; congruence
Below 0.80
0.40 to 0.40
0.41 to 0.79
Positive; over-utilized Above 0.80
159 125 149 134 162 164 118 169
11 17 40 60 32 21 25 8
0 0 2 2 0 1 2 2
12 36 20 12 13 19 29 18
(4.3%) (13.0%) (7.3%) (4.4%) (4.8%) (7.0%) (10.7%) (6.7%)
0.79 to 0.41 95 98 62 63 64 67 96 73
(34.3%) (35.5%) (22.7%) (23.2%) (23.6%) (24.6%) (35.6%) (27.0%)
(57.4%) (45.3%) (54.6%) (49.4%) (59.8%) (60.3%) (43.7%) (62.6%)
(4.0%) (6.2%) (14.7%) (22.1%) (11.8%) (7.7%) (9.3%) (3.0%)
(0.7%) (0.7%) (0.4%) (0.7%) (0.7%)
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Table 2 Discrepancy percentages by gender (N 351) Resource
Wife/husband Education Employ/career
Discrepancy category Negative; under-utilized
Zero; congruence
Positive; over-utilized
Boys
Girls
Boys
Girls
Boys
Girls
31.9 52.1 42.8
24.0 43.3 52.6
46.6 41.9 44.2
53.1 49.5 41.1
21.5 6.0 12.3
22.9 7.2 6.4
(see Table 2). Whereas 53.1% of appraisals for ``husband'' indicated congruence only 46.6% of parents reported congruence regarding ``wife''. Most parents in the non-congruent category (31.9%) tended to believe a wife was important but inaccessible to their male children with disabilities. There were two resource areas where the majority of parents reported noncongruence; educational programs and employment/career service. Further, in both of these areas, parents tended to report the resource as more important than accessible to their developmentally disabled child (48.5 and 46.3%, respectively). Interestingly, as shown in Table 2, most parental ratings for boys fell outside the congruent range in the area of education (58.1%). Of these non-congruent responses, 52.1% of parents of boys revealed education to be more important than it was accessible whereas only 43.3% of parents of girls reported this perception. For parents of girls, appraisals of employment/career services (59.0%) tended to fall outside the congruent category. Among parents reporting non-congruence in this area, 52.6% believed this resource was under-utilized by girls, with only 42.8% reporting employment/career to be more important than it was accessible to boys. 3. Discussion This study has attempted to answer important questions that previous research has not attempted about resource utilization by children with developmental disabilities in a developing country. Within this study, parental perceptions of eight physical and human resources necessary to meet the needs of children with developmental disabilities in Kenya are described. By assessing the discrepancy between the level of importance that parents attached to a particular resource and their appraisal of the expected use of that resource, this study provides insights into two important and inter-related issues. Firstly, this study tells us what resources parents believe are important for their children with developmental disabilities. Secondly, this study also tells us whether parents believe that their children with developmental disabilities will actually utilize particular resources regardless of the level of importance they attach to it. This information is critical to our understanding of how resources are utilized by children with developmental
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disabilities in Kenya while at the same time explaining the over/under-utilization of resources by those children. Overall, parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals of the eight resources were not signi®cantly affected by the child's gender. These ®ndings are different from previous studies where parent expectations of children with mental retardation in Kenya were signi®cantly affected by the child's gender (Mutua & Dimitrov, 2001a). In addition, this study provides new ®ndings in that resource utilization by children with developmental disabilities within developing countries has not been investigated in previous studies. On ®ve of the resources including, health, friends, religious af®liation, acceptance by the community, and having one's own home, this study found that there was a match between parents' appraisals of expectation-to-importance of each of those resources regardless of the child's gender. A closer examination of those resources reveals their generic nature, which is to say that those resources are not de®ned by the unique needs of persons with developmental disabilities who utilize them, but rather they are generic and would be available to general population without any modi®cations. In essence, the level of importance or lack of importance that parents attach to those speci®c resources would perhaps not be dependent upon or determined by the child's developmental disability. In contrast, parent's appraisals of expectation-to-importance of three of the resources including education, wife/husband, and employment/career fell within the non-congruent range. Further, slight gender differences were found for parent's expectation-to-importance appraisals in those three resources regardless of the discrepancy category their appraisals fell into overall. With regard to having a wife/husband, although parent's appraisals fell into the congruence category, appraisals for ``husband'' were higher (53.2%) than appraisals for ``wife'' (46.6%). In other words, in general parents believed that having a spouse was important for their children with developmental disabilities, but majority of parents in the non-congruent category thought that the male children were unlikely to have a spouse. Thus, while parents agreed on the importance of their sons with developmental disabilities to have a wife, they nonetheless believed that their sons would not actually be able to get a wife. Placed within the broad context of the Kenyan culture, these ®ndings are consistent with cultural practices regarding marriage and adult gender roles. Culturally, males are expected to be the providers for their families. Additionally, men are expected not only to be the primary bread-earner for a family, but also to pay dowry to the bride's family. The perceptions about their ability to accomplish these culturally-ascribed male gender-roles may be compromised because of their having a developmental disability. Thus, while parents might indeed wish for their sons to be married, the likelihood of this actually happening is grossly diminished by the perception that their developmental disability limits or inhibits their ability to ful®ll cultural roles expected of them as husbands. On the other hand, there was congruence in parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals of their female children with developmental disabilities relative to having a spouse. This means that parents fully expected that despite their
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disabling conditions, girls with developmental disabilities would indeed be able to ®nd a husband. A possible explanation that is consistent with traditional cultural roles of females in Kenya is that as long as the girl is able to perform the cultural duties such as bearing children, cooking, taking care of the home, the likelihood of getting a spouse is almost assured. These ®ndings appear to be consistent with previous studies whereby parents' expectations about the achievement of adult responsibilities were higher for boys with mental retardation in Kenya than girls (Mutua & Dimitrov, 2001b). However, this study provides new insights in that expectations and importance constructs of each resource are investigated simultaneously. This simultaneous investigation of parents' appraisals of the resources in terms of their expected use versus their importance allows for a much richer analysis of how and why particular resources are over/or under-utilized by children with developmental disabilities in Kenya. Two resources that yielded interesting ®ndings were education and career/ employment. In general, the appraisals for these resources emerged as incongruent with parents' rating these resources on one hand as important for their children with developmental disabilities, but yet believing that their children were actually unlikely to utilize them. With regard to the high level of importance that parents attached to education, this is congruent with research from Kenya and indeed developing countries where education is highly valued and desirable for children with and without disabilities (Mutua, 2001). Previous research from developing countries has shown the correlational nature of the association between education and career/employment, with higher levels of education correlating with higher employment rates and easier access to better career/ employment. This study, however, expands previous research by providing information about parents' appraisals of the importance versus the likelihood of their children with developmental disabilities actually utilizing or participating in education and/or having a career/being employed. These results indicate that despite the high value parents place on education of their children with developmental disabilities, these children were quite unlikely to utilize those resources. Some possible explanations for these discrepancies might include cultural barriers to the education of children with developmental disabilities. Previous studies in developing countries have shown that, in general, children with disabilities are among those least likely to receive education (Stuecher & Suarez, 2000; World Bank, 1995). Indeed studies have shown that parents chose not to enroll their children with disabilities in school solely because of the disabling condition (Mutua, 2001; Mutua & Dimitrov, 2001a, 2001b). Additionally, the discrepancy could also be a function of scarcity of specialized educational and career/employment services for persons with developmental disabilities within many developing countries like Kenya. Therefore, regardless of how important parents might think education and career/employment is for their children with developmental disabilities, the absence of these resources within those countries is a much more signi®cant consideration in their appraisal of the likelihood that their children with developmental disabilities would actually access those services. On the other hand, parents may have appraised those resources as being
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unlikely to be utilized by their children with disabilities because of the high costs associated with their utilization. Indeed, the high cost of education in many developing countries is well-documented (see, e.g., Swadener, Kabiru, & Njenga, 2000). Not surprising though was that parents' appraisals of employment/career services for girls fell outside the congruent category, suggesting an underutilization of those resources by girls with developmental disabilities. Relative to the apparent under-utilization of employment/career services by girls with developmental disabilities, from a cultural stand-point, girls with or without disabilities are expected to be home-makers and not expected to have careers or employment outside of the home. While these traditional beliefs about gender roles have changed rapidly with the introduction of cash-economies in many African countries, including Kenya (see, e.g., Swadener et al., 2000), those beliefs have persisted with regard to women with disabilities (Nkinyangi & Mbindyo, 1982). In contrast, parents' appraisals of education for girls fell in the congruent category. The congruence in parents' expectation-to-importance appraisals of girls' education could also be indicative of low importance attached to education of girls with developmental disabilities and therefore, low expectation that those girls would in fact utilize educational resources. Taken together, these ®ndings suggest that parents generally report over-utilization of those resources, but they are more frequently under-utilized. This is particularly true of educational resources for boys with developmental disabilities and career/employment for girls with developmental disabilities. Current research on employment of persons with developmental disabilities in the US has shown that only a small minority of workers with disabilities actually required highly specialized retro®tting in order to function optimally at a job (Harris & Associates Inc., 1994). According to Harris & Associates Inc. (1994) prevailing public belief is that majority of persons with disabilities require highly specialized equipment or modi®cations in order to function in a work environment. With regard to utilization of ``education'' and ``career/employment'' similar beliefs about the degree of specialization of materials and educational and work environments may be held by Kenyan parents, and therefore, explain the under-utilization of those resources. Believing that their children with developmental disabilities can only bene®t from special education and not general education, and believing that their children can only bene®t from supported employment or specialized career training programs and not general employment programs, parents' may, therefore, hold them as unimportant and unlikely to be used. This is particularly so since those highly specialized resources are unavailable or inaccessible to the majority of children with developmental disabilities within a large majority of developing countries, including Kenya. In summary, the results from this study draw attention to issues related to resources for persons with developmental disabilities. The information on how persons with developmental disabilities utilize those resources, particularly the physical resources may indeed provide useful information to policy makers when
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making decisions about resource allocation. Policy makers may need to pay close attention to parents' ideas and the role parents play in determining resources that their children will ultimately utilize. Further, the results of this study indicate that only a very small number of parents reported an over-utilization of the resources. However, a large number was reported on the under-utilization category. This suggests a scarcity or inaccessibility of resources to children with developmental disabilities in Kenya. Further research in this area could focus on those parents who reported congruency. It is not clear whether it implied that the parents valued the resource and therefore, expected that their children would in fact use it or that they did not value it and thus, did not expect their children to use that resource. These issues of access to resources, importance, expected use, and availability are critical questions that policy makers and parents should collaborate on when attempting to ®nd answers. References Atkinson, J. W. (1957). Motivational determinants of risk taking behavior. Psychological Review, 64, 359±372. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Bandura, A. (1989). Human agency in social cognitive theory. American Psychologist, 44(9), 1175± 1184. Bradshaw, Y. W., Noonan, R., Gash, L., & Sershen, C. B. (1993). Borrowing against the future: Children and Third World indebtedness. Social Forces, 71, 629±656. Campbell, A. (1981). The sense of well-being in America. New York: McGraw-Hill. Carnie, I. H., & Orelove, F. P. (1988). Implementing transition programs for community participation. In B. L. Ludlow, A. P. Turnbull, & R. Luckasson (Eds.), Transitions to adult life for people with mental retardationÐprinciples and practices (pp. 137±158). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes. Dennis, R. E., Williams, W., Giangreco, M. F., & Cloniger, C. J. (1993). Quality of life as context for planning and evaluation of services for people with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 59(6), 499±512. Dowling, D. M. (1978). The development of a mathematics confidence scale and its application in the study of confidence in women college students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Columbus: Ohio State University. Eccles, J. S., Adler, T. F., Futterman, R., Goff, S. B., Kaczala, C. M., Meece, J. L., & Midgley, C. (1983). Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors. In J. T. Spence (Ed.), Achievement and achievement motivation (pp. 75±146). San Francisco, CA: Freeman. Eccles, J. S., & Harold, R. D. (1991). Gender differences in sport involvement: Applying the Eccles' expectancy-value model. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 3, 7±35. Eisemon, T. W., Ong'esa, , & Hart, (1989). A note on language instruction, teaching, and cognitive outcomes of science instruction in primary schools in Kisii and Kwale Districts, Kenya. Kenya Journal of Education, 4(2), 153±165. Feather, N. T. (1992). Values, valences, expectations, and actions. Journal of Social Issues, 48, 109± 124. Flexer, R. W. (1983). Habilitation services of developmentally disabled persons. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 14(3), 6±12. Hackett, G., & Betz, N. E. (1989). An exploration of the mathematics self-efficacy/mathematics performance correspondence. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 20, 261±273.
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Hallahan, P. D., & Kauffman, J. M. (2000). Exceptional learners: Introduction to special education (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Harris & Associates, Inc. (1994). N.O.D./Harris survey of Americans with disabilities (Study No. 942003). New York: Author. Lauglo, J. (1996). Banking on education and the uses of research: A critique of World Bank priorities and strategies for education. International Journal of Educational Development, 16, 221±233. Ministry of Economic Planning and National Development. (1994). Country data. Nairobi, Kenya: Government Printer. Mutua, N. K. (1999). Macro- and micro-level factors that predict educational participation among children with disabilities in Kenya. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Ohio: Kent State University. Mutua, N. K. (2001). Importance of parents' expectations and beliefs in the educational participation of children with mental retardation in Kenya. Education and Training In Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 36(2), 148±159. Mutua, N. K., & Dimitrov, D. (2001a). Prediction of school enrollment of children with intellectual disabilities in Kenya: The role of parents' expectations, beliefs, and education. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 48(2), 179±191. Mutua, N. K., & Dimitrov, D. (2001b). Parents' expectations about the outcomes of children with mental retardation in Kenya: Differential effects of child's gender and severity of mental retardation. Journal of Special Education, 35(3), 172±180. Newman, L., & Cameto, R. (1993). What makes a difference? Factors related to postsecondary school attendance for young people with disabilities. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA. Nkinyangi, J. A., & Mbindyo, J. (1982). The condition of disabled persons in Kenya: Results of a national survey. Nairobi: Institute for Development studies, University of Nairobi. Nkinyangi, J. A., & Van der Vynckt, S. (1994). Child health, nutrition and educational participation. A technical support services (TSS-1) report for Government of Kenya. UNESCO. Obiakor, F. E., Maltby, G. P., & Ihunnah, A. C. (1990). Special education policies in Nigeria: Cultural, socio-economic and political issues. Paper presented at the international convention of the Council of Exceptional Children, Toronto, Canada. Roessler, T. (1990). A quality of life perspective on rehabilitation counseling. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 34(2), 82±90. Schalock, R. L. (Ed.) (1990). Quality of life: Perspectives and issues. Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation. Stuecher, U., & Suarez, J. (2000). Research in special education from the perspective of a country in development: Ecuador. Exceptionality, 8(4), 289±298. Swadener, B. B., Kabiru, M., & Njenga, A. (2000). Does the village still raise the child? A collaborative study of changing child-rearing and early education in Kenya. New York: State University of New York Press. Talik, J. B. G. (1991). Family and government investment in education. International Journal of Educational Development, 11, 91±106. Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. S. (1992). The development of achievement task values: A theoretical analysis. Developmental Review, 12, 1±41. Williams, J. E. (1998). Self-concept-performance congruence: An exploration of patterns among high-achieving adolescents. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 21, 415±422. World Bank (1995). Education sector review. Washington DC: World Bank.