Determining the contribution of residential respite care to the quality of life of children with severe learning difficulties

Abstract

This paper investigates factors which may be influential in determining the impact of residential respite services on residents' quality of life. Residents are all aged 19 or under and have severe learning difficulties. The objective of respite care is to ameliorate some of the burdens which carers associate with caring but to do so without adversely affecting those being cared for, while preferably improving residents' quality of life. The usual focus of evaluations of respite care, however, tends to be directed at how well carers' needs are supported. Only when it is possible to determine the impact of respite care on the quality of lives of both carer and cared for will researchers be in a position to complete a full evaluation. Until then a better understanding of all recipients' responses to respite care is needed. This paper, therefore, takes as its focus the often 'forgotten' recipients, the children with severe learning difficulties themselves. The analysis is somewhat preliminary but this is inevitable reflecting as it does the current state of research work in this area.