THE PERSONAL ASSISTANT SERVICES FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIRS QUALITY OF LIFE: A CASE STUDY OF NAKHONSAWAN PROVINCE

Abstract

The purposes of this research were 1. to study the sufficiency of personal assistant for the number of disabled people in Nakhon Sawan Province in order to study the expected roles and actual roles of personal assistants in this province 2. to study problems and supported needs of personal assistants in Nakhon Sawan Province and 3. to compare quality life of disabled people before and after recieving service. It was case study as a type of qualitative research by in-depth interview. The samples were divided into four groups: 15 personal assistants, 15 disabled people who recieved service from personal assistants, dirctor of disability Service Center, director of Strategy and planning Division and Department for Enpowerment of Persons with Disabilities. Most of personal assistants are women. The elderest is 68 years old. The youngest is 34 years old. The highest education is bachelor’s degree. The lowest education is elementary. Most personal assistants are agriculturists. There are 8 agriculturists. Some personal assistants are Village Health Volunteer. Most of personal assistants look after 3 disabled people. The percentage is 0.16. The percentage of disabled people who didn’t recieve service is 99.84 from 15 personal assistants. The percentage of personal assistants per disabled people is 0.04. It reflected that the number of personal assistants is not sufficient for disabled people in Nakhon Sawan Provine. The insufficient problems affect the number of disabled people in Nakhon Sawan Province 1. There are not many personal assistants because roles and duties of looking after are hard work. They have to help disabled people to turn over, take shower, dress and clean their bodies when they are in toilet. Moreover, there are some personal assistants who passed training, they didn’t want to be personal assistant because roles and duties of personal assistant are hard work. 2. The compensation of personal assistants is not balance with duties so it’s not persuade to work. 3. The personal assistant training for increasing and improving is not sufficient for the number of disabled people which increase every year. Some expected roles and actual roles of personal assistants couldn’t work such as cleaning disabled people’s bodies and dressing beacuse of the different genders between disables person and personal assistant. Moreover, there are 8 elders of 50 years old and the elderest is 68 years old so it’s hard to work in some situations. The supported need problems of personal assistants in Nakhon Sawan Province is low compensation for living. Most of personal assistants are agriculturists and venders so they couldn’t work as personal assistant well enough. The main supported need of personal assistant are more training of disabled people rights, changing experience and supporting equipment for working. The comparison of quality life between before and after recieving service from personal assistant indicated that 15 disabled people had better emotional, physical and social developments.