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Trends in residential policies and services for people with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan
Author(s) -
Chou Y. C.,
Schalock R. L.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2006.00850.x
Subject(s) - institutionalisation , government (linguistics) , residential care , unit (ring theory) , economic growth , scale (ratio) , business , socioeconomics , geography , political science , gerontology , medicine , psychology , sociology , philosophy , linguistics , mathematics education , cartography , law , economics
Background In Taiwan, 92–95% of people with an intellectual disability (ID) live with their families, with the remaining residing in residential facilities. Instead of funding community‐living alternatives, the Taiwanese Government funds only registered facilities as part of its residential policies and services. The purpose of this study was to evaluate current policies and services trends regarding people with an ID in Taiwan. Methods Both documentary research, such as an analysis of policies, services programmes, official statistics, surveys, reports and funding provision reports, and a mail survey, were conducted to examine current trends and characteristics of the 96 residential settings available for people with an ID in Taiwan. Results During the 1990s in Taiwan, residential programmes for people with an ID showed the biggest growth since 1952. Since the first ‘Community Home’ was launched in 1990, the number of smaller scale residential settings with a unit size of less than 30 has grown significantly, particularly since 2000. However, the rate of institutionalization of people with an ID and who live in the institutions has also risen. Conclusions In Taiwan, unlike in Western societies, residential services for people with an ID provided by formal care systems are tending to grow in number, and these include both large and smaller residential settings.