Characteristics of and Contradictions in Deinstitutionalization Policy for Japanese Group Homes for People With Intellectual Disabilities : Institution-Led Model

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine how and why the group home system was established in Japan in 1989, focusing on the institution-led design of the system, which seemed to have had an effect on the growth of group homes. The results suggested that a rule that allowed care workers to have no professional qualifications resulted in the present situation in which institutions have come to assume the role of managing group homes. As a result of a reduction in the funds allocated for group homes in the national budget, the government had to employ as care workers people, such as middle-aged housewives, who were willing to work for low pay. A consequence of this has been that care workers in group homes became much more dependent on institutions, because the institutions' professional staff gave advice and support that helped the workers care for the people with intellectual disabilities who were residing in the group homes. The overall effect of this is that the residential policy for people with intellectual disabilities that values institutional care above community-based services has remained unchanged, despite lip service being paid to deinstitutionalization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)