The Construction of the Mode of Habitation of the Double-Aging Families—Old Parents and Their Children with Intellectual Disability

• Main Authors: Wang, Wenchuan, 王文娟
• Other Authors: Chien, Chunan
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/48835500408107372154

博士 === 東海大學 === 社會工作學系 === 100 === The amount of the double-ageing families that contain old parents and their children with intellectual disability has become higher and higher year by year. In order to develop and construct the mode of habitation that is suitable for the social context and culture of Taiwan, and due to the different physiological, psychological and social pressure these double-ageing families have to face necessarily in such a stage of life, as well as the lack of the related research concerning the issue of the double-ageing family nowadays, this research set out to probe into the view the double-ageing families that raise children with intellectual disability have of the mode of habitation, by applying qualitative method. This research has interviewed 19 research participants that include 8 parents who raise children with intellectual disability, 8 practitioners, and 3 managers of the institutions of the intellectual disabled people. This research discovers that during such a stage of life, there are 6 levels of pressure loads the parents of the intellectual disabled people usually have to face: the white-headed, blurred vision “old body”, the money-losing “old capital”, the equally weak “old mate”, the physiological ageing of the intellectual disabled children, the uncertainty concerning the future, and the GAP of the welfare supply and demand of the formal supporting system. However, due to the complex mixed reasons such as the responsibilities, the affects and the actuality, while facing different levels of pressure loads, the parents still choose to take care of their intellectual disabled children continuously, with the hope of “body safety”, “life safety”, and “mind safety”, concerning the suitable mode of habitation. In light of this, concerning the “three safeties”, in order to fulfill the hope of the double-ageing families that contain old parents and their children with intellectual disability, this research has designed the mode of the homeland for parents and children. This mode has not only transformed the traditional institutional mode of habitation, but also put emphasis on the life-quality-ensuring professional care, the application of the assistance of amateurs, and the arrangement of facilities of the holistic principle, while taking the accessibility of regional resources of the located area into consideration. Nevertheless, this new mode is also put into the trials of legality, the wish of the institutions of physical disabled people, the acceptance of the potential users, and the acceptance of the neighborhood. Therefore, on the high pressure courses and stages of the double-ageing families under the “internal revolt and foreign invasion”, the umbilical conception of the inter-generational care, the Chinese culture, and the responsibility of generational care, it is necessary to provide a new interpretation of the concept of “ageing in place” and “quality of life”, as well as construct a personality-and-place-suitable spectral mode of habitation. For this reason, on the side of policy-making, this research suggests that not only the triangular relation among the state, society, and family should be rebuilt, but also the more close welfare services and multiple modes of habitation should be designed, constructed and rewarded. On the side of social work practices, this research also suggests the client (family)-centered approach, the innovation of service orientation of groups/institutions of the physical and intellectual disabled people, and the promotion of a friendly environment.