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A move from hospital to community: evaluation of community contacts
Author(s) -
FIRTH HUGH,
SHORT DAVID
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.1987.tb00550.x
Subject(s) - residence , social contact , duration (music) , psychology , scale (ratio) , work (physics) , nursing , gerontology , medicine , sociology , social psychology , geography , demography , engineering , mechanical engineering , art , literature , cartography
Summary A small‐scale evaluation was made of the activities and social contacts of a group of young mentally handicapped people in one project, leaving hospital to a house in the community. The results are consistent with other recent work in suggesting that residential provision in small homes for people with severe or profound intellectual or multiple handicaps is likely to lead to increased family contact, increased participation in activities outside of the residence, and an increased frequency and duration of contact with non‐handicapped people. The study suggests that many of these benefits of life in the community are dependent in various ways upon the staff employed. The nature of the young people's social contacts is examined and conclusions are drawn about specific issues, including staff selection and training, and attention to the maintenance as well as the provision of social contact.