The general trend toward community care of the mentally
ill is a relatively recent development in the treatment
and rehabilitation of this segment of society. The purpose
of this study was to examine a group of boarding
home residents who are psychiatrically handicapped in
order to discover whether they were satisfied with their
situation in the community and whether they had achieved an
appropriate level of social functioning. Another question
addressed was whether the cost of maintaining the patients
in the community is less than that of institutional care.
The scope of the study was restricted to individuals residing
in mental health boarding homes in the Kamloops,
British Columbia area. The majority of these had been patients
at the Tranquille School, facility for the retarded.
However, included in the 69 subjects interviewed were those
with other psychiatric handicaps. One questionnaire was
administered to residents, boarding home operators, employers,
and workshop staff. A subjective response was elicited from
the boarders regarding their satisfaction with their situation;
in addition to the subjective-response, "satisfaction"
was measured quantitatively with regard to social activities,
that is, contacts with friends and family as well as attendance
at community activities. Other items on the questionnaire related to social functioning of the subjects and
included adjustment in the home and at work, and interpersonal
relationships. Ability to remain in the community
was considered to be an important indicator of social
functioning, as well as moving on to independent living.
Fifty-eight of the sixty-nine (84.06%) responded that they
were satisfied with their situation in the community.
These represented a substantial number of the moderately
retarded. Contact with relatives and friends were found to
be infrequent, and most subjects were dissatisfied with
this. A high percentage of the respondents (88.4%) attended
community activities at least once a week, and 30.43% at
least twice a week or more often. These factors may have
contributed to the boarders' satisfaction with community
living.
Social functioning was felt to be closely connected to
some form of community employment. A total of 68.12% of
subjects were away from home in some work related activity,
a fairly high indicator of social functioning. Amount of
supervision needed in such activities as eating, sleeping,
toilet, dress, and spending money was considered in the
study as being a measure of social functioning. With
regard to the rate of returning to institution, the .5%
per month compared favorably to the Province wide average of
less than 1% per month. 6.8% of the boarding residents
were found to have moved on to independent living in 1973,
as compared with the provincial average of 11%. The possibly
high percentage of retarded subjects in boarding homes in
the Kamloops area as compared with other districts in the
Province may have influenced both of these findings.
A tentative conclusion was reached that the cost of maintaining
patients in the community is considerably less than
institutional care, but a more comprehensive study would
seem to be indicated. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/41945 |
| Date | January 1974 |
| Creators | Osborne, Dorothy Margaret |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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