Search

Introduction: In Romania there is a wide legislation framework referring to the persons with disabilities. The access to social services rises however equity questions due to a wide variation of the disabilities' dimensions even between persons with the same type and degree of disability. Aim: Our study aimed to assess the dependence of people with disabilities from a county of Bucharest and their real needs of social services. Methods: We used a new tool for assessment of dependence and need for social services in persons with disabilities from a county of Bucharest. The tool was based on five domains of activity and nine categories of social services. An overall disability score (ODS) was calculated and, based on it, we analyzed the need for social services. Results and discussion: We investigated 607 persons with disabilities, from which 20.4%, 62.8% and 16.8% were young, middle aged and elderly respectively. Among them, 28% didn't have any education and half didn't have any income source. Most of the cases had marked or severe disabilities, especially mental, psychic or physical. The overall disability score reached to 76.3/ 75.5 (mean/median) showing many variations within the same degrees and types of disability. The support services were recommended most often, followed very closely by rehabilitation services, services for adaptation of the environment and basic services and the palliative services were most rarely recommended. Conclusion: The proposed technique could serve as framework to assess the need for social services in persons with disabilities, starting from the level of dependence and it might be useful in decreasing variability in social services provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In Romania there is a wide legislation framework referring to the persons with disabilities. The access to social services raises however equity questions due to a wide variation of the disabilities' dimensions even between persons with the same type and degree of disability. Aim: Our study aimed to assess the dependence of people with disabilities from a county of Bucharest and their real needs of social services. Methods: We used a new tool for assessment of dependence and need for social services in persons with disabilities from a county of Bucharest. The tool was based on five domains of activity and nine categories of social services. An overall disability score (ODS) was calculated and, based on it, we analyzed the need for social services. Results and discussion: We investigated 607 persons with disabilities, from which 20.4%, 62.8% and 16.8% were young, middle aged and elderly respectively. Among them, 28% didn't have any education and half didn't have any income source. Most of the cases had marked or severe disabilities, especially mental, psychic or physical. The overall disability score reached to 76.3/ 75.5 (mean/median) showing many variations within the same degrees and types of disability. The support services were recommended most often, followed very closely by rehabilitation services, services for adaptation of the environment and basic services and the palliative services were most rarely recommended. Conclusion: The proposed technique could serve as framework to assess the need for social services in persons with disabilities, starting from the level of dependence and it might be useful in decreasing variability in social services provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]