Special care center experience of disabled relatives: Sakarya example

An individual's ability to live an independent life depends on his ability to meet his own needs. Nutrition, shelter, self-care, etc. The most important factor in the stages of personal development, which end with the individual's self-actualization by meeting basic needs, is meeting the individual's own needs or having the basic living conditions or necessary support that can meet the needs. When considering individuals who meet their needs under the care, supervision and guidance of others, children, patients, elderly or disabled individuals come to mind. Social policies are the most important tools for disabled individuals in this disadvantaged group to exist within the social structure, to be supported socio-economically, to ensure that the support system is constantly accessible, and to make the support given holistic and systematic. One of the basic policies required for the disabled individual to continue his healthy, safe and continuous life is disability care services. In Turkey, disabled care services are offered in two ways: home care and institutional care. Although there are many studies in the literature on the home care service model with disabled relatives, the "institutional care model" is among the less studied topics. Institutional care services are provided by public institutions, local governments, foundations, associations and private care centers. Private care centers are a type of institutional care opened by individuals or companies and provide two types of care services for disabled individuals: personal and psycho-social. In this study, the various difficulties faced by the relatives of disabled individuals who receive care services in a private care center regarding disabled care before receiving institutional care services, their reasons for choosing institutional care, the changes that occurred in their lives before and after institutional care, and their feelings and thoughts about institutional care were investigated. Within the scope of the research, 15 patients receiving care services in a private care center in Sakarya Province.Semi-structured interview was conducted with disabled relatives (10 women, 5 men). The interviews were conducted face to face during the participants' institutional visit and lasted an average of 50 minutes. As a result of the research, the interviewed disabled relatives discussed the institutional care service model, care difficulties, behavioral problems of the disabled individual and ajte status etc. They stated that they preferred it for various reasons and that they applied because they were helpless. Many of the subjects experienced feelings of guilt, loneliness, helplessness, anger, etc. after a while after they started to benefit from the institutional care model. They stated that they experienced emotions and were mentally worn out. The feelings felt by the disabled relatives while benefiting from the institutional care service model, what kind of changes occurred in the personal lives of the disabled relatives after the institutional care service, the field and It poses an important problem for social work studies. It is thought that this study will contribute to the social service intervention and approach in the field of disability.