Evaluation of a decision-making curriculum designed to empower women with mental retardation to resist abuse.

The effectiveness of an abuse-prevention curriculum, designed to empower women with mental retardation to become effective decision-makers able to protect themselves against abuse was examined. Thirty-six women with mental retardation were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a control group. Results indicate that the performance of the women in the intervention group was superior to that of the women in the control group on measures of knowledge, decision-making, and empowerment but not on a measure of stress management. The findings suggest that women with mental retardation can acquire effective decision-making strategies and apply them to situations of abuse in their lives.