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A case study of human service professionals' perceptions of a community-based residential group home for developmentally disabled adults: Deinstitutionalization revisited
Abstract
In-depth interviews were conducted with five human service professionals who worked in a community-based residential group home for developmentally disabled adults. The interviewing process used a phenomenological approach which focused on the perceptions of the human service professionals. "Perceptions" relate to the personal interpretations and evaluations that the human service professionals made of their work experiences. The interview process consisted of three ninety-minute interviews with each participant. The first interview centered around the question, "How did you come to work as a human service professional?" The second interview focused upon the question, "What is it like for you to work at a community-based residential group home for developmentally disabled adults?" And the third interview asked, "What does deinstitutionalization mean to you?" The interviews were audio-recorded and later transcribed. After significant transcript material had been identified, it was then synthesized in two ways: first, as profiles of the participants; and second, as excerpts from the interviews which were woven together with emergent themes that connected the experiences of the participants. Seven themes relative to their experiences at the community-based residential group home emerged from the data. The seven emergent themes that evolved from the data were: (1) Are private sector community-based group homes for the developmentally disabled adult truly independent, or are they a cleverly disguised extension of state government? (2) Community-based group homes, unlike the large state institutions, should impress family and community values upon their clients. These values are critical to the healthy and productive independence of clients. (3) The quality of care is much better in community-based group homes than in large institutions. (4) Staff development and staff selection are critical to the success of the program. (5) Members of the public and family members of some clients resent the good quality of life that the clients have. (6) Community-based group homes have a positive economic impact upon the local community and that fosters positive integration into the community. (7) Can a community-based program such as ours, which is driven by the needs of the clients, maintain its unique identity and philosophy?
Subject Area
Educational administration|Education finance|Business education
Recommended Citation
Norman, Gregory Paul, "A case study of human service professionals' perceptions of a community-based residential group home for developmentally disabled adults: Deinstitutionalization revisited" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9316700.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9316700