| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
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| Research Abstract |
This project aimed to create the opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities:( I.D.) to develop 'people-centered' service evaluation activities, improving their 'quality of life' and leading to empowerment as service users, applying Participatory Action Research (PAR). We organized the research team as a coalition of people with I.D. and their support workers. The focus of our research was to explore their status as service users, presenting their experiences and voices in the service. evaluation processes, and the question of their unmet need in making use of the personal assistant service, 'Guide Help Service'. This is a unique service in Japan in terms of, personally, supporting those who need additional support in their community living activities.
Participants were recruited including snowball sampling, and mailing the application form of the Best User Contest' in order to take more detailed data of individuals. With the interview material transcribed, co-researchers interviewed a total of 24 people with I.D. at 6 areas in Japan.
Our findings are three fold;
1. Making use of 'guide help service', the feasibility to change and enrich individuals' lives.
2. Exchanging their experiences and having their voices heard, allowing them the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the services.
3. Using the services in their daily lives, information based on their experiences. We are of the opinion that the lack of such information will keep people under the constraint of powerlessness.
We firmly believe it will be possible to apply PAR to 'people-centered' service evaluation activities for and with people with I.D. in future services. Difficulties in this project were issues of training co-researchers to develop the methodology of P A R.
Sharing our experiences and results with service users, service providers, families and other people concerned, we wrote the report Guide Help Service, What we hope is... '.
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