Resources search

An observation study of power practices and participation in group homes for people with intellectual disability

SVANELÖV, Eric
2019

Expand view

This study explored how participation constitutes and is constituted by practices of power in group homes for people with intellectual disability. The study used disciplinary power as theoretical perspective and was based on 50 h of observation in two group homes with a total of 15 residents. The analysis identifies practices of power and their relationship to individual agency and participation. The results show that institutional structures construct practices of power that define codes of conduct for the group home residents and their possibility for participation. This study offers implications for the daily lives of residents in group homes for people with intellectual disability.

Critique of deinstitutionalisation in postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe

MLADENOV, Teodor
PETRI, Gabor
2019

Expand view

In this paper, we explore critically deinstitutionalisation reform, focusing specifically on the postsocialist region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We argue that deinstitutionalisation in postsocialist CEE has generated re-institutionalising outcomes, including renovation of existing institutions and/or creation of new, smaller settings that have nevertheless reproduced key features of institutional life. To explain these trends, we first consider the historical background of the reform, highlighting the legacy of state socialism and the effects of postsocialist neoliberalisation. We then discuss the impact of ‘external’ drivers of deinstitutionalisation in CEE, particularly the European Union and its funding, as well as human rights discourses incorporated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The analysis is supported by looking at the current situation in Hungary and Bulgaria through recent reports by local civil society organisations. In conclusion, we propose some definitional tactics for redirecting existing resources towards genuine community-based services.

The concept of welfare technology in Swedish municipal eldercare

FRENNERT, Susanne
BAUDIN, Katarina
September 2019

Expand view

Purpose: An ageing population presents a challenge for municipal eldercare in Sweden due to difficulties recruiting staff and there being a strained economy. A strategy involving welfare technology is presented as one such solution. An important group to carry out this strategy involves those who work with welfare technology in municipal eldercare. In this paper we describe their perception of welfare technology, and the challenges and opportunities they perceive in utilizing it.

 

Methods: A self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to all Swedish municipalities and answered by 393 respondents. Analyses show that the respondents were representative of the different professions who work with welfare technology within municipal eldercare.

 

Results: Welfare technology was perceived as being more reliable and safer than humans with regards to supervisions and reminders. The respondents acknowledged factors that slowed down the implementation of welfare technology in municipal eldercare organizations, such as resistance to change, lack of finances, lack of supporting evidence, lack of infrastructure, high staff turnover, difficulties with procurement and uncertainties about responsibility and laws.

 

Conclusions: We found that the people who work with and make decisions about welfare technology in municipal eldercare organizations were generally very positive about the deployment and use of such technology, but there appear to be problems within municipal eldercare organizations to realize this vision. The lack of structured implementation processes and coherent evaluation models indicates inequality of the access to welfare technology and, as a result, even though Swedish eldercare is publicly funded, the availability of welfare technologies and their usage differ between municipalities.

Associations between occupational and social interaction factors and well-being among people with psychiatric disabilities living in supported housing in Sweden

EKLUND, Mona
TJÖRNSTRAND, Carina
2019

Expand view

Research indicates that occupation is important for well-being in people with mental illness, but this has not been extensively studied among those with severe psychiatric disabilities. Social contacts may possibly play a more vital role for them. This study aimed to explore how aspects of occupation and social interaction were related with well-being factors in that group, while controlling for the influence of clinical factors. People with psychiatric disabilities living in congregate supported housing (CSH; N = 155) responded to questionnaires addressing occupation, social contacts and well-being aspects, such as subjective health, quality of life, self-mastery, and personal recovery. A comparison group with psychiatric disabilities who lived in an ordinary flat or house and received outreach housing support (N=111) completed the same instruments. The two groups were compared regarding their pattern of associations between occupation, social contacts, and well-being. Associations between occupation and well-being in the CSH group showed that general satisfaction with everyday occupations in particular was related to all aspects of well-being, whereas activity level and occupational balance were not related to well-being. The relationships were fewer and weaker, in comparison to the group in ordinary housing with outreach support. Indicators of social contacts were basically unrelated to well-being. The study contributes to occupational science by showing that the role of a high activity level for well-being, although important, should not be overemphasized. Future research should focus on narratives to get the voices of people residing in CSH and on exploration of how individually/socially performed occupations are associated with well-being.

‘It’s my home and your work’: the views of a filmed vignette describing a challenging everyday situation from the perspective of people with intellectual disabilities

HELLZEN, Ove
HAUGENES, Marit
ØSTBY, May
2018

Expand view

Purpose: Examining everyday challenges in the interactions between people with intellectual disabilities and their staff, as seen from the user’s perspective, is an important perspective in health care research. Involving people with intellectual disabilities as so-called co-researchers is a relatively unexplored research strategy. In this paper, co-researchers participated in all the steps of the research process, from planning to reporting, in addition to the written reporting of the findings. The aim of this study was to explore how people with intellectual disabilities experienced a filmed vignette of an everyday situation.

 

Method: Based on audio-recorded and transcribed individual and focus-group interviews with people with intellectual disabil- ities, performed by co-researchers with intellectual disabilities together with researchers, qualitative content analysis was used.

 

Results: The analysis reveals three themes: “being emotionally touched”, “being aware of the other”, and “being unclear”.

 

Conclusions: The results are discussed in light of normalization and participation in society with independence and one’s own decision-making. Regarding the care of people with intellectual disabilities, the main finding is the need to focus not only on greater involvement of this population in their own daily lives, but also to teach self-determination skills. Another finding is the importance of involving people with intellectual impairment as co-researchers.

Gendered experiences of physical restraint on locked wards for women

FISH, Rebecca
HATTON, Chris
2017

Expand view

Physical restraint is used in inpatient services for people with intellectual disabilities as a way of holding a person to avoid injury. This article uses data from an ethnographic study in a locked unit in the north of England to explore women’s experiences of physical restraint using a feminist disability studies analysis. Data consists of field notes as well as interviews with 16 of the women who had experienced restraint, and 10 staff who worked with them. The women gave insights into the gendered phenomenon of restraint in light of their past experiences of violence. The authors argue that restraint is used with women to encourage passivity at times when more relational and therapeutic methods could be used. The article offers recommendations for alternative strategies that services can encourage.

E-bulletin