Premium
The Role of the External Personal Assistants for Children with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities Working in the Children's Home
Author(s) -
Axelsson Anna Karin
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 1360-2322
DOI - 10.1111/jar.12122
Subject(s) - intellectual disability , psychology , meaning (existential) , unit (ring theory) , qualitative research , function (biology) , nursing , qualitative property , developmental psychology , medicine , psychiatry , psychotherapist , computer science , machine learning , biology , social science , mathematics education , evolutionary biology , sociology
Background Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities need support to function in an optimal way. However, there is a limited knowledge about the role of external personal assistants working in the children's home. Materials and Methods A mixed method study was performed including qualitative data from interviews with 11 S wedish parents and nine external personal assistants and quantitative data from questionnaires answered by 60 families. Results For the child, the assistant's role was one of reinforcing, meaning supportive and empowering, and the child needed a high level of assistance. For the family, the role was one of balancing and the external personal assistant was more often found to assist in activities away from home while parents tended to assist within home and in family unit activities. Conclusion In planning and implementation of external assistance, the child's needs as well as considerations of the whole family should be regarded.