The Importance of Family Environment in Raising Children with Special Needs Aged 0-6 Years Old /// Значението на семейната среда при отглеждане на деца със специални нужди от 0 до 6 години

Children with special needs are a sensitive topic for society because they are subject to a policy of radical change from isolation in special institutions to deinstitutionalization and development of alternative care and other social services for them and their families. The present study accentuates on the global trends in child protection and realization of children’s rights, on the advantages of raising children with disabilities in family environment, the legal framework governing the status of children with mental and physical disabilities. Modelling of social services is analysed with emphasis on preventive services. A practice review of different EU countries with services for disabled children is presented, along with various forms of provision of health and social care for children with special needs aged 0-6 years old. The aim of this thesis is: To investigate the opinion of parents, medical professionals and social workers on the quantity and quality of care for children with special needs aged 0-6 years old, and based on the results to propose a model of nursing service which supports family environment care for these children. Tasks: To elicit the specific characteristics of children from orphanages in Varna, Shumen, Dobrich, Stara Zagora and Bourgas; parents` survey about their needs for special training and support; to explore the view of medical professionals and social workers who collaborate with families about the quality of services for children with special needs. Different sources of information have been given to the targeted groups: historical, documentary (many official documents from various state and municipal institutions and NGO`s are analysed), sociological, statistical and other. The presented stages of the study show the sequence of its organizational steps. The methodology includes concepts vocabulary and instruments developed for each of the surveyed groups: parents (61), medical specialists from orphanages (107), and health visitors trained in UNICEF project (43), experts from the social sphere (95). Results give insights on the contingent of children`s centres nosological affiliation (mostly CP), the needs for medical intervention and procedures and corresponding type of staff - speech therapists, psychologists, masseurs, physiotherapists. Parents’ expectations of health status outcome are putted together with actual achievements. These data, along with the opinion of the specialists for the barriers in communication with parents, emphasise the need of training and guidance for the families of children with special needs. Positive impact on the satisfaction of professionals working with special needs children is the emotional attitude of providing care; negative footprint is the workload and time deficit for quality service. Factors and practices designated to increase the satisfaction with the process of care of children with special needs have been derived for each of the studied groups. The degree of education, urban factors, etc., are considered as well. The core of the thesis is the formulation of a concept to create a nursing services model designated to carry out nurses’ duties in the homes of children with special needs to help parents raise their children in the most natural place - the family environment. The proposed model is based first of all on research and exploration of needs of children and their families in times of demanding policy for change towards deinstitutionalization. Not least, it partially challenges the issue of proper use of human resources in health care, particularly nurses’ competences as a product of a new type of education and the implementation of autonomous nursing care model. Conclusions are based on the content of the study; recommendations brought forward to the attention of the Ministry of Health Care, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, The Ministry of Education and Science and to the childcare centres are directly related to unresolved problems.

Authors dc:creator

• Tsvetkova, Tamara
• Цветкова, Тамара

• children with special needs
• family environment
• nursing
• care
• services
• Здравни грижи / Auxiliary health care, Nursing

Repository record dc:identifier

http://repository.mu-varna.bg/handle/nls/256

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.mu-varna.bg:nls/256