Narratives of Home
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Narratives of home: Personal accounts of life in the community following resettlement from an assessment and treatment unit.
IRAS ID
208490
Contact name
Sandra F Dowling
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
A raft of policy initiatives demonstrate the current focus on the resettlement of people with learning disabilities from Assessment and Treatment Units (ATU) in England. There is a strong imperative towards rethinking how adult social care is provided to adults with intellectual disabilities and a drive to diminish the inappropriate use of ATUs through prolonged stays, placing people at a distance from their home communities and lack of discharge planning. Fast track sites have been established in five locations in England. These aim to pilot more rapid moves from ATU into the community. It is intended that significant learning as to what works in this process can be gleaned from these sites. Despite the focus on moving away from the ATU model towards providing localised care, there is very little research on what happens to the people with ID once they leave ATUs and settle in communities, or how they experience this transition.
This project aims to learn from the experiences of people with learning disabilities in relation to their sense of home in the transition from ATU to the community, and what that means in terms of choice, independence, personalisation and empowerment. The project will gather personal narratives of the experiences of people who have lived in an ATU and have latterly moved to live in a community setting. The overall aim of this project is to understand from the point of view of adults with learning disabilities themselves more about the experience and meaning of the transition from life in an ATU and their return to the community. The intention is to bring a distinct focus on the individual stories of people’s experiences of home.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
16/IEC08/0032
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion