Abstract
<span>The Nastola Care Home, an institution housing 95 people with intellectual disability, was closed in 1989, with residents moving out into small community group homes of five people each. An intensive process of reorganization, including unitisation and staff training, occurred within the institution before its closure. The adaptive behaviour of 66 residents was measured a total of seven times, with the first phase beginning two and half years before the move, and the second phase extending to two years after the move. The results indicated an increase in adaptive skills of the residents in both phases. Challenging behaviour of the residents decreased before the move, but not afterwards. Community participation and family contacts with the residents increased after the move. With regard to daily care practices, there was a major change from institution‐oriented practices in the institution to individual‐oriented care practices in the community group homes. The results of this deinstitutionalisation effort, which is the largest thus far in Finland, are discussed in relationship to research and the policy of deinstitutionalisation.</span>
Highlights
The Nastola Care Home, an institution housing 95 people with intellectual disability, was closed in 1989, with residents moving out into small community group homes of five people each
The process of deinstitutionalisation, occurring in several countries around the world (Emerson et al, 1996; Lakin, Braddock & Smith, 1994), has been documented in numerous studies which have evaluated its effects on the lives of people with intellectual disability who have moved from institutional settings to community environments
When the last measurements before the move were compared with the last measurements after the move, an increase in adaptive skills (ABS Part One) was observed, r(65) = -2.72, p_=.008, but there was no change in maladaptive behaviour (ABS Part Two) after the move, ?(65) = -.912, p =
Summary
The Nastola Care Home, an institution housing 95 people with intellectual disability, was closed in 1989, with residents moving out into small community group homes of five people each. Some studies have indicated decreases in challenging behaviour after moving out, while others have reported no effects, or even increases in challenging behaviour (Kim, Larson & Lakin, 2001; Larson & Lakin, 1989; Emerson & Hatton, 1996). Several studies have evaluated the effects of deinstitutionalisation on various aspects of the quality of life of service users These measures have included, among others, the assessment of engagement, amount of staff contact, level of community participation, selfdetermination, freedom of choice, numbers of relationships, and levels of satisfaction (Conroy, 1992; Emerson & Hatton, 1996; Wehmeyer & Bolding, 2001). A review made by Emerson and Hatton (1996) indicated that the majority of comparisons reported a significant increase in the use of community-based facilities in smaller community-based settings as compared with institutions
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