A study of deinstitutionalization of the moderately, severely and profoundly retarded populations of the three major institutions in British Columbia
Date
1988
Authors
Wilcox, Carol
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Abstract
This study assessed the effect of deinstitutionalization on the health status and daily living skills of a population of persons with moderate, severe, and profound mental retardation. The original data were developed for the British Columbia Ministry of Health, six months prior to the closing of Tranquille Hospital in June/July of 1983. These data were used as the basis for comparison of former Tranquille Hospital residents with sample populations of people who were residents of Woodlands School or Glendale Lodge and remained in the institution.
Individuals discharged from Tranquille Hospital into the community were matched with present institutional residents of Woodlands School and Glendale Lodge on the basis of the level of retardation, sex, age, length of stay in an institution, adaptive behaviour score, and psychological function score. The instrument used to measure these variables was the Wilcox Client Data Scale and measures were taken over two periods in time.
The move to the community did not appear to have made a significant difference in the moderately, profoundly and severely retarded subjects moved to the community. On the other hand, it was shown that the subjects moved to the community had not deteriorated significantly by their experience. The subjects remaining in the institutions were found to have changed generally as much and in the same way as had the subjects who were moved to the community. The move to integrate the Tranquille Hospital population into the community was not as beneficial as deinstitutionalization philosophy would have predicted. Since the residents remaining in the institutions were shown to be more severely disabled on most of the variables than those subjects moved to the community, recommendations for future research are offered to enhance understanding of the special needs of severe and profound populations.