For this study we are defining Home Supports as personal assistance provided to people with disabilities in home or community settings. This might include: assistance with dressing, eating, washing, meal preparation, homemaking, paper work, attending an appointment, community activity, and so on.
1. What is
life like for you?
a. how would you describe yourself? (e.g. gender, geographic location, culture, impairments)
b. what activities do you engage in? (e.g. volunteer work, exercise, socialization, employment)
c. what are some of your life goals? (e.g. going to school, art, job promotion, spending time with friends)
d other comments…
2. What role
does home support (personal assistance) play in your life?
a. what types of home support services do you receive? (e.g. assistance with meal preparation, bathing)
b. what locations do you receive supports in (e.g. home, community, school)
c. what does it enable you to do? (e.g. leave the apartment, participate in lobbying)
d. how does home support help/hinder your physical and emotional health?
e. how does home support help/hinder your opportunities to engage in paid or unpaid work?
f. how does home support help/hinder your engagement in social activities?
g. what level of flexibility, choice and control do you want and have?
3. When do
you know home support is working well?
a. what does “good quality” home support look like for people with disabilities?
b. what factors or service characteristics (e.g. flexibility, location of service, level of service) are particularly important given who you are and your circumstances (e.g., woman of colour, rural resident, visual impairment, going to school)?
c. please describe an example interaction and activity in a particular setting that illustrates excellence in a home support worker or the delivery of service.
d. please describe an example that illustrates excellence in terms of the way services are administered or organized.
e. other comments…
4. When do
you know that home support is not working well?
a. what does “poor quality” home support look like for people with disabilities?
b. what factors or service characteristics (e.g. flexibility, location of service, level of service) are particularly important given who you are and your circumstances (e.g., woman of colour, rural resident, visual impairment)?
c. please describe an example interaction and activity in a particular setting that illustrates poor quality in a home support worker or the delivery of service.
d. please describe an example that illustrates poor quality in terms of the way services are administered or organized.
e. other comments…
5.
Assessment or reassessment of home support services
a. have you been reassessed for eligibility for service during the past 5 years? (please describe why this process was initiated.)
b. what impact did the process of reassessment have on you and your health?
c. how did reassessment affect your level and quality of service? (please give examples)
d. have you encountered challenges related to how your disability was understood?
e. have you encountered challenges related to how your life goals were understood?
f. was your knowledge of how you wanted to use home support services to achieve your life goals incorporated into the assessment process?
g. have you ever tried to challenge or appeal an eligibility/assessment decision?
h. are you expected to go to charities other than community organizations who administer service delivery to obtain services? (if so, how does this impact upon you?)
i. are you expected to ask for and receive unpaid help from family and friends? (if so, how does this impact upon you?)
j. other comments…
6. What home
support issues are important to you and why?
Please identify 3-5 of the following topics that are of greatest interest and importance to you. For each, please comment on:
a) why you think this issue is important?
b) what you like/dislike about the situation in relation to this issue?
c) what solution would you propose if you are not satisfied with the current situation or what might you propose be put in place to maintain the situation in which you are satisfied.
Topics:
à finding ways to influence policy
à assessment tools and procedures
à eligibility criteria
à appeal mechanism
à user fees
à Canada Health Act Principles (access, portability, universality, comprehensiveness, public administration)
à Charter of Rights and Freedoms (including mobility rights)
à Federal/Provincial/Territorial issues
à privatization/ globalization
à direct funding (self-directed options)
à alternative models of home support provision (e.g., supported living units)
à overall review of disability and income supports
à training of home support workers
à home support employment standards
à gender issues
à Aboriginal/ First Nations issues
à employment issues
à abuse
à number of service providers providing home support to one consumer
à Other: please specify and describe