The taxonomy of rights and educational objective attainment

The purpose of this study is to rest empirically the model, Taxonomy of Rig hts (Schultz, 1996), in how efficiently it acts as an educational tool for health-car-e students. The Taxonomy is a proposed classification system of rights, in the framework of Maslow's (1954) hierarchy of needs, for individ uals with mental retardation or developmental disabilities. This is in cont rast to most bill of rights documents that are merely haphazard listings of rights. The health-care students were contracted and trained by the Hattie Larlham Foundation. The focus of the training was for the delivery of in-h ome respite care to a population of children and young adults who may be de aling with mental retardation, developmental disabilities, or complex and c hronic medical needs. Those students exposed to the Taxonomy presentation d emonstrated higher educational objective attainment for these rights in the cognitive (Bloom, 1956) and affective (Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia, 1964) domains than did students exposed to the traditional Ohio Revised Code (198 7) presentation. Ramifications of these results in terms of the place and p resentation of rights in quality health-care delivery for clients with disa bilities are enumerated.