Original Title: Assessment of the benefits of community day-care facilities for the physically and mentally handicapped

Authors' objectives: In Taiwan, small-scale community-based day centers (CBDCs) have been established since 2011 to organize scheduled works and provide opportunities for occupational engagement to those with physical or mental disabilities, those who are partially independent, and who are unemployed. CBDCs are small-scale, work-oriented centers providing care and recreation facilities for people aged >15 years with chronic psychiatric disorders or physical disabilities who have not been placed in social welfare institutions or psychiatric rehabilitation institutions at the same time. During 2011–2016, the number of centers increased from 22 to 143 with expenses increasing from NTD 36.04 to 113.46 million, exhibiting an expansion of demand for this service.This study aimed to investigate the following research questions: small-scale community-based day centers (CBDCs) aimed to enhance the accessibility to attendees. What is the reasonable and acceptable travel time from home to the center location? How efficient is this service regarding quality of life (QoL) of both attendees and their families?

Authors' results and conclusions: The authors use qualitative interviews and analysis of existing data to understand the current status of day-to-day operational facilities, which is indeed sufficient to provide users and their families with a better life. However, there are still a large number of potential users. Apparently, more support is needed for employment training and healthcare services. Improvements could be made to enhance task-specific training, explore more job opportunities for attendees, clarify the eligibility of attendees, set clear goals, prepare a comprehensive plan, recruit talent, and promote service access to ensure sustainable operation of this service.

Authors' recommendations: The overview of this study is to research the distance related between small scale workshops and the home of the special needs participants. The goal is to highlight the future need of small scale workshop number and distribution within the Taiwan, based on the positive feedback and current utilization collected from these workshops. It is our task to get the policy maker’s attention that they are to give additional enforcement to meet the needs that will be enough for these day-care facilities.It is concluded a stable and consistent government funding is crucial for high-quality workshop operation.

Authors' methods: Interviews and questionnaires determined that CBDCs offered several benefits, including improved QoL of caregivers, satisfaction of attendees, and resocialization of people with disabilities. Qualitative interviews are conducted on two scenarios. The first one is on patients who are already enrolled in the day-care facility, and is presently being served to an optimal quality of care and treatment. In this manner, we are able to see for ourselves how the patients are being rehabilitated and trained to cope with their day to day living status effectively. The second scenario is for those who will later benefit under a more improved system and this will also contribute for the betterment of future outcomes.

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2019

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Organisation Name: Center for Drug Evaluation

Contact Address: 3F.,No.465, Sec.6, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Taipei 11557, Taiwan. R.O.C.

Contact Name: Li Ying (Grace) Huang

Contact Email: lyhuang277@cde.org.tw