This thesis is based on a research project that explored the deinstitutionalisation and eventual closure of a large residential facility for people with an intellectual disability. The thesis is focused on family experiences of deinstitutionalisation in order to understand how families interacted with this major process of social change, and pays specific attention to the role of adult siblings within this context.
Unstructured interviews were held with thirty-five families who had family members with an intellectual disability who were being resettled from an institution to alternative disability support services. Families were interviewed at three specific phases during the deinstitutionalisation process: prior to the resettlement of their family member; 1-3 months following resettlement; and one year after resettlement. In keeping with the constructivist paradigm that underpinned this qualitative study, repeated contact with families enabled me to develop some insights into how families made decisions relevant to their family members� transitions from the institutional environment.
The study findings highlight the complexity and heterogeneity of families. While families who participated in this study were found to have shared a similar journey toward institutionalisation, their responses and reactions to deinstitutionalisation and the decision-making associated with such a process were more diverse. My analysis presents the notion that taking a constructivist approach to theorising can facilitate an understanding of how families are influenced in their decision-making with regards to the resettlement of a family member with an intellectual disability. That is, we may be able to gain greater understanding of families� perceptions of their family members who have an intellectual disability and, subsequently, the decisions that families make regarding the care of that person by exploring the meanings they assign to their world. Ascertaining how families come to construct their understandings of disability is, in my view, critical to responding appropriately to families� needs within the context of disability support and service provision.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217416 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Mirfin-Veitch, Brigit, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Faculty of Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Brigit Mirfin-Veitch |
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