[Do residential facilities for mentally retarded people exert an influence on the capacity for autonomy and social integration of their residents?].

The study relates to the lodging establishments situated in the Province of Liège (190 persons in 10 establishments). The independent variables are: the seriousness of each resident's handicap, and the belonging to an establishment. The dependent variables are composed of the three self-reliance scores and of the three integration scores of an instrument perfected for sake of the research: the E.C.A.I. (Evaluation des Comportements d'Autonomie et d'Intégration = Evaluation of the self-reliance and integration behaviors). The statistical data processing (especially the stepwise multiple regression analysis) points out that, provided the effect to the seriousness of the residents' handicap has been neutralized, the establishments have a specific influence on the level of their self-reliance and integration. An increase in the number of the establishments investigated should allow, beyond this global influence, to identify the working and structural characteristics of the establishments propitious to an increasing self-reliance and integration of the residents.