Support provision is a personal and important element of daily life for many people with disabilities. The study examines the ways in which organizational mandates and philosophies shape interactions between people with disabilities and support providers at two unique organizations: a L’Arche community for people with intellectual disabilities and a Independent Living Resource Centre. The project is framed with the social model of disability, the work of Titchkosky (2003) and human geography. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, including a scenario component, with administrators at each location, people with disabilities using the services and support providers. The findings demonstrate that both organizations have strongly articulated philosophies that the participants are familiar with. The L’Arche model creates an environment that determines certain ways of interacting and while the IL participants amend the philosophy to reflect the daily reality of support provision. / October 2007

Support provision is a personal and important element of daily life for many people with disabilities. The study examines the ways in which organizational mandates and philosophies shape interactions between people with disabilities and support providers at two unique organizations: a L’Arche community for people with intellectual disabilities and a Independent Living Resource Centre. The project is framed with the social model of disability, the work of Titchkosky (2003) and human geography. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, including a scenario component, with administrators at each location, people with disabilities using the services and support providers. The findings demonstrate that both organizations have strongly articulated philosophies that the participants are familiar with. The L’Arche model creates an environment that determines certain ways of interacting and while the IL participants amend the philosophy to reflect the daily reality of support provision.

Support provision is a personal and important element of daily life for many people with disabilities. The study examines the ways in which organizational mandates and philosophies shape interactions between people with disabilities and support providers at two unique organizations: a L’Arche community for people with intellectual disabilities and a Independent Living Resource Centre. The project is framed with the social model of disability, the work of Titchkosky (2003) and human geography. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, including a scenario component, with administrators at each location, people with disabilities using the services and support providers. The findings demonstrate that both organizations have strongly articulated philosophies that the participants are familiar with. The L’Arche model creates an environment that determines certain ways of interacting and while the IL participants amend the philosophy to reflect the daily reality of support provision.

Limitations of current eldercare monitoring systems leave a need for new solutions. A monitoring system based on a frequency modulated continuous wave ultra-wideband short-range radar is proposed for this application. The complete proposed monitoring system is comprised of four blocks: boundary detection, silhouette capture, human identification, and data transmission. This paper develops the RF front end hardware for the silhouette capture subsystem. System requirements are derived for the silhouette capture subsystem. An architecture for the RF front end is designed, and required individual component specifications are determined. Components are selected off the shelf or custom designed for each socket. Full transmitter and receiver level plans are calculated to ensure expected system performance meets system requirements. A component library and full system schematic is created, PCB layout is completed, and PCB files are generated and sent for fabrication. PCB traces and individual components are characterized over frequency, and methods that improve inadequate performance are documented and discussed.

The research topic discussed will explore Independent Living Program (ILP) services within the parameters of the foster care system. The research conducted followed guidelines within the positivist paradigm along with quantitative data collecting to gather information regarding experiences of youth while in the program and independence after the program through the utilization of surveys from those who have emancipated from the foster care system. Participants were eighteen years or older. The study included 28 participants who ranged in age and gender. Surveys were collected and analyzed using Qualtrics and SPSS software. The data collected and analyzed in this research revealed that youth who participate in the ILP services provided by their county have a better success rate of achieving overall success in independence in housing, education, financial support, and emotional/social support. It appears that the participants living situation was stable with majority not living alone. This begs the question that they still depend on others for support with housing needs.

The aim of this thesis was to explore and describe foodwork and meals for older persons with dementia and their partners in ordinary homes. Descriptive and explorative designs were used in the four papers this thesis is based on. Longitudinal data, including older home-living unlike-sex twins, were analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics. An ethnographic approach was used to describe everyday life for persons with dementia. Interviews with partners and staff were analysed using thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis, respectively. The results revealed that, among home-living older persons, there is an association between a person’s cognitive ability and nutritional status; i.e. low cognitive ability leads to increased risk of malnutrition. For home-living persons with dementia and their partners, foodwork and meals sometimes changed, meaning that shopping, preparing food and eating as well as social interaction become complicated, which seemed to lead to transitions in roles, routines and relations. There was foodwork that the persons with dementia could perform, and participants expressed a desire that abilities and independence be preserved. However, support was sometimes needed, and it was emphasized that this was based on the person’s needs, wishes and problems. In conclusion, there is an association between decreased cognitive ability and increased risk of malnutrition. Furthermore, foodwork and meals affected both persons with dementia and their partners. Therefore, early intervention whereby both partners in a couple get individually adjusted support is of importance. Consequently, a person-centred care approach can be useful in arranging the support.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is more prevalent than any other disease under the umbrella of dementia (Alzheimer's Association, 2013). Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) are the typical front-line care staff who care for individuals in aging care (Sengupta, Harris-Kojetin, & Ejaz, 2010). The present study investigated the use of a pyramidal training model to teach aging facility staff to be able to conduct trainings and to teach direct care staff antecedent strategies shown to be effective when communicating with individuals with AD. Pyramidal training resulted in two tiers of staff successfully implementing training for subsequent tiers of staff and subsequent staff demonstrated mastery of the trained material. However, during maintenance observations, some decreases were observed both with regard to training integrity as well as implementation of the trained material.

Class of 2005 Abstract / Objectives: To determine if delivery of medications to an independent living facility increases patient adherence. Methods: Retrospective review of patient pharmacy refill records was completed using a data extraction form in order to calculate a number of days deviation from a projected refill date based on days supply. Data on the use of express pay, auto fill, and delivery service and payment type was collected as well as age and gender. Residents of The Fountains independent living facility were eligible to be included in this study if they had complete data in the pharmacy refill records for at least one scheduled maintenance medication taken for a continuous, three-month period. Results: There were 21 subjects in the delivery group and 18 in the pick-up group. Both groups were primarily women (76.2 percent and 61.1 percent respectively). Age was also similar (85.8 and 83.8, p=0.285). The delivery group had significantly more maintenance medications than the pick-up group (mean=2.8, SD=1.1 and mean=1.7, SD=1.1 respectively). Seven of the nine time deviations were greater for the pick-up group than for the delivery group (p= 0.09 for sign test). Implications: It appears that a delivery service can increase adherence, particularly in a population of advanced age.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The National Policy on Orphans and Vulnerable defines an orphan as a child, who has lost one, or both parents, and is under the age of 18, while a vulnerable child is one, who is in need of care and protection. The Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) are placed in residential childcare facilities (RCCFs), such as children’s homes, shelters, safe havens, or any other alternative form of care. They are provided with psychosocial support, depending on the facility, in which they are placed.Failure to provide proper and specialised care by the caregivers could prove harmful to the overall wellbeing of the child, resulting in children with developmental difficulties, poor interpersonal relationships, mental health difficulties, behavioural difficulties, and poor academic achievement.

The purpose of this study is to determine the levels of burnout and role stresses among direct service providers at centers for independent living in Region V, and investigate the relationship between burnout and role stressors among the population. Results showed that the respondents have average level of emotional exhaustion, high level of depersonalization, and low level of personal accomplishment in categorization of MBI scores. When comparing with the MBI-HSS normative samples, it indicated that these providers experience higher burnout than overall samples and the sample in social services. The obtained results supported the previous view that CIL management problems including low salaries, high staff turnover, insufficient resources, excessive caseload, unsatisfactory reward, or general lack of control over job tasks and responsibilities that may effect to high burnout.