An investigation of care professionals’ opinions on the impact of deinstitutionalization on the lives of people with intellectual disabilities

Curran, Laura (2016) An investigation of care professionals’ opinions on the impact of deinstitutionalization on the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. Bachelors thesis, Dundalk Institute of Technology.

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Abstract

In this day and age, individuals with intellectual disabilities now have the right to live a community, instead of been hidden away from society in institutions. Disability policy now places an emphasis, on moving from institutional settings to community settings. Individuals with disabilities are living more “normal lives”. They are seen to be living their lives like ordinary people in ordinary places. Community living is understood to offer individuals with intellectual disabilities a better life than institutions. This study looked at care professionals’ opinions on the impact of deinstitutionalization on the lives of people with intellectual disability. A quantitative research paradigm was engaged Online questionnaires were used as a method of data collection. Participants were selected using non-probability purposive sampling. They included nursing staff, social care workers, care assistants and nursing managers, who worked in different community settings over different lengths of time. The data obtained from the questionnaires was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings from the study indicated the deinstitutionalization process has had a predominantly positive impact on residents. Residents who moved from institutionalized settings to the community were seen to have an improved quality of life. They get to live a more “normal” life with increased choice, community participation and meaningful opportunities. Although the impact of deinstitutionalization is effected by two factors. These factors are the residents level of disability and residents who exhibit challenging behaviour. Results indicated that residents who have milder disabilities benefit more from the deinstitutionalization process compared to residents with severe disabilities. Many residents with challenging behaviour did benefit from the deinstitutionalization process as they showed improvements in their behaviour. However, some residents with challenging behaviour did not see an improvement in their behaviour, in some cases there was an increase in behaviour. The move to the community was too much for some residents, this resulted in them returning to institutions.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelors)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Social care workers; Intellectual disability; Community living.
Subjects:	Social Sciences Social Sciences > Sociology
Research Centres:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Sean McGreal
Date Deposited:	08 Jun 2016 11:10
Last Modified:	08 Jun 2016 11:10
License:	Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0
URI:	https://eprints.dkit.ie/id/eprint/501

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