Day Service Provision for People with Intellectual Disabilities: A Case Study Mapping 15‐Year Trends in Ireland

Abstract

Emergent trends can inform future direction of disability services. Government funds should support individualized models, more adaptive to changing trends. National databases need flexibility to respond to policy and user demands. Future research should focus on day service utilization of younger people and the impact of rurality on service availability, utilization, quality and migration.

In pursuit of meaningful occupation: Employment and occupational outcomes for older Irish adults with an intellectual disability

“…Recent Irish policy (Health Service Executive, ) is moving people with disabilities from personal support services to vocational training and employment in order to “maximise their chances of working in the open labour market” (2012:99), and move away from traditional day services for people with intellectual disability that offered no routes to employment. However, there are concerns this may simply be a re‐branding of existing services, with little evidence to date of any real change in practice (Fleming, McGilloway, & Barry, ), other than the closure of some group day programmes within intellectual disability services. The employment outlook for people with intellectual disability has changed little, and low employment rates for this population show little prospect of improving.…”

Changes in the Provision of Day Services in Ireland to Adult Persons With Intellectual Disability

“…As in other affluent countries, day services were provided primarily for people living with family carers (Seed, 1996). They were intended to provide parents or other family carers with a break while keeping their relatives safe in a caring environment (Fleming, McGilloway, & Barry, 2017). Over time, the supports have also evolved to meet the needs of the people with intellectual disabilities through the provision of training, educational, and leisure pursuits (Whittaker & McIntosh, 2000;Cole & Williams, 2007), although the provision of breaks for family carers remained an equal if not more important function of day services (Campbell, 2012).…”

“…Likewise for Irish persons living in residential settings and community group homes, the provision of day services provided an opportunity for these residents to experience new settings and opportunities. Some day care centers were exclusively for residents and were located in a separate building on the same campus, whereas others integrated residents with day attenders—usually people living in their family home—in campus or community centers (Fleming et al, ).…”

A longitudinal study of post‐school provision for Irish school‐leavers with intellectual disability

“…Up until the 1960s, residential schooling and institutional care dominated. Day services became more common as more families elected to care for their child at home but even then a charitable ethos prevailed with an emphasis on care and protection (Fleming, McGilloway, & Barry, 2017). The advent of However, it is only in the recent past that a major review of day services provision was undertaken which envisages that "supports will be tailored to individual need and will be flexible, responsive and personcentred".(p.…”

“…Up until the 1960s, residential schooling and institutional care dominated. Day services became more common as more families elected to care for their child at home but even then a charitable ethos prevailed with an emphasis on care and protection (Fleming, McGilloway, & Barry, ). The advent of European funding in the 1970s onwards stimulated the development of vocational training and sheltered workshops for persons with intellectual disability with some smaller scale supported employment initiatives.…”