BUDS REHABILITATION CENTRES (Brcs) in NEDUMANGAD TALUK : an APPRAISAL STUDY a Dissertation Submitted to the University of Keral
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BUDS REHABILITATION CENTRES (BRCs) IN NEDUMANGAD TALUK : AN APPRAISAL STUDY A dissertation submitted to the University of Kerala in partial Fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK 2016-2018 Submitted by SUBHADRA.P.S Exam Code : 91514403 Candidate Code : 91516115020 Subject Code :SW 245 LOYOLA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES SREEKARIYAM,TRIVANDRUM-695017,KERALA UNIVERSITY OF KERALA 2016-2018 DECLARATION I, Subhadra P.S. do hereby declare that the dissertation titled “BUDS REHABILITATION CENTRES (BRCs) IN NEDUMANGAD TALUK: AN APPRAISAL STUDY” is based on the original work carried out by me and submitted to the University of Kerala, during the year 2016-2018, towards partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Social Work Degree Examination. It has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, fellowship or other similar title of recognition before. Thiruvananthapuram Ms.Subhadra P.S. CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL This is to certify that this dissertation entitled “BUDS REHABILITATION CENTRES (BRCs) IN NEDUMANGAD TALUK: AN APPRAISAL STUDY” is a record of genuine work done by Ms. SUBHADRA.P. S fourth semester Master of Social Work student of this college under my supervision and guidance and that it is hereby approved for submission. Dr. Sonny Jose Research guide Department of Social Work Loyola College of Social Sciences Sreekariyam PO, Thiruvananthapuram Recommended for forwarding to the University of Kerala, Dr. Sonny Jose Head, Department of Social Work Loyola College of Social Sciences Sreekariyam PO, Thiruvananthapuram Forwarded to the University of Kerala, Dr.Saji.P.Jacob Principal Loyola College of Social Sciences Sreekariyam PO, Thiruvananthapuram ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Fore mostly I extend profound thanks to Almighty God who has blessed me the opportunities and intellectual ability to complete my research successfully. I was lucky to have Dr.Sonny Jose, Headof the Social Work Department, Loyola College of Social Sciences as my guide. He was the leading spirit in my endeavour; he had motivated me in my times of my confusion, stood for me, with me. At this juncture I extend my heartfelt respect and gratitude for all the pain that he had taken for the completion of my study. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Dr.Saji.P.Jacob, Principal Loyola College of Social Sciences and Ms.Jasmine Sarah Alexander, faculty Department of Social Work for their help on various occasions during the course of this work. I express my sincere thanks to Dr. Sunil Kumar, Librarian and Mr. George Mathew assistant librarian,Dr. Pramod S. K, faculty Department of Counselling Psychology, Dr.PrakashPillai R, faculty Department of Personnel Management,Loyola College of Social Sciences for providing necessary reference materials, and their kind support for the successful completion of my work so far. I express my sincere gratitude to all the respondents who have participated in the process of my data collection. It would not have been possible for me to successfully complete this work without the constant encouragement and support of my beloved family I could never conclude this without mentioning my dearest friends, whose whole-hearted support made me to present this before you. SUBHADRA.P. S CONTENTS S. Number Chapters Page Number 1 Introduction 1 2 Review of literature 11 3 Research Methodology 30 4 Case Studies 35 5 Data analysis and Interpretations 49 6 Findings, Recommendations and Conclusion 59 7 Bibliography and Appendix 67 ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges faced by BUDS Rehabilitation Centres in the process of rehabilitating mentally challenged above 18 years of age. The research questions were to understand the organizational profile of BUDS Rehabilitation Centres, feedback from parents about the functioning of BRCs, impact of programs in addressing the needs of mentally challenged, challenges encountered by BRC Personnel and systemic issues existing in BRCs. The study was qualitative in nature and adopted multiple case study design. The case studies of 6 BRCs of Nedumangadtaluk was taken for the study. The key informants were the staffs and parents who were associated with the BRCs. The sample was collected using purposive sampling method. Interview guides and Observation checklist was used for data collection.The data collected was analysed using thematic analysis. The major findings of the study were about the challenges faced by the BRCs in effective functioning such as the lack of basic amenities pre-required for the centres, a dearth of trained personnel, the limited intake capacity of each centre given the number of mentally challenged, etc. The study is of significance to policy makers, social workers, rehabilitation organizations. It was evident that challenges exist in all aspects of rehabilitation centresand if these challenges are not well addressed the whole process become a vicious cycle. Recommendations made suggest of a paradigm shift in government structures and rehabilitation centres in addressing these issues associated with rehabilitation centres for the mentally challenged. Chapter-1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Conclusion 1 1.1 Introduction Good health is one of the necessities in addition to shelter, food, education andclothing. More so, it is a basic human right, as well as, a cornerstone of economic and socialdevelopment. More significantly, good health enhances the productive capacity of a society and its social, economic, political and scientific institutions. In fact, good health helps reduce poverty by mitigating its effects on education, population and agriculture (Mwabu et al 1995, Republic of Kenya 1997; Shauri, 2000). “Mental retardation is perhaps the greatest single source of human suffering. The child born mentally challenged is not only a tragic human figure in himself, living yet not alive, since he is never to be what he could have been, but he is the innocent agent of profound and endless suffering to his family and a perpetual burden to his society” The problem of mentallychallenged is quiteserious particularly in an over populated developing country like India. In India conducting a survey regarding the total number of mentally challenged is not an easy task. The problem of Mentally Challenged is quite serious in developing country like India. The attitude of the public towards the challenged is lamentably unfavourable. The literacy rate is high in Kerala compared to all the other states in India. Even though the scenario regarding literacy rate is satiable, most of the families do not even recognise the presence of mentally challenged in the family unless the problem of the person is severe. The existing services for the mentally challenged in India cater for few populations among the total number of retardants in India. There are many rehabilitation centres in India, but the services are not evenly distributed throughout the country. Lack of proper knowledge and understanding about the causative factors become a hindrance for proper planning of service-oriented programmes for the mentally challenged persons. Integration of disabled persons into the mainstream society is one of the objectives of any civilised country. To maximise social integration, the person with disability must be equipped with potentials which will lead to societal gains by avoiding individual loss and avoiding living a parasitic life in the family.To achieve this objective, it is important to understand about different disability types. The types of problems faced by the mentally challenged will be varied in nature. So, it is appropriate to examine different psychosocial aspects including cognitive, personality, emotional, motivational and other socio-cultural factors separately. This understanding will help to bring out an appropriate curriculum planning and programmes which help the disabled person to acquire skills involved in personal, 2 communicative, social and vocational areas to become self-enough individual in a pluralistic society. In Kerala, Institutions for persons who are mentallychallenged were managed mainly by missionaries, NGOs and private agencies. Often poorer sections of the society tend to be excluded and unable to benefit from them. Hence the Kudumbashree mission facilitated a special system named BUDS BUDS Rehabilitation Centres (BRC) BUDS schools were started in the beginning for catering the mentally challenged children below the age group of 18 years. They were provided with the necessary training for maintaining a sustainable life. As this progressed very effectively, therearise a question of how the children above 18 years will be trained. Day care centres for mentally retarded persons of 16 or above years of age. BRCs are part of a Kudumbashree initiative to fill a gap in the State’s existing system for providing care to the mentally retarded that caters only up to 18 years of age. BRCs are meant for those who have already undergone special education through BUDS schools or other centres. BRCs are meant to train and support persons with special needs for equipping them with skills that make them employable. BRCs have adopted Community Based Participatory Rehabilitation (CBPR) as their methodology in partnership with local bodies (Kudumbashree.org, 2015).In Kerala BRCs were introduced through the decision made by Kudumbashree in the year 2015 for focusing on the post school age group. BRCs focus on the rehabilitation, training and day care of these mentally challenged persons. It follows a unique rehabilitation approach which ensures the participation of all the stakeholders associated with it. There are 93 BRCs in Kerala. Services provided by BUDS Rehabilitation Centres There are mainly 5 services being provided to the mentally retarded persons such as Adult Care and Andragogy, providing special training based on the checklist provided by National Institute of Mentally Handicapped as well as by using Government authorised Curriculum or through the Kudumbashree implemented Curriculum. Vocational training is provided to the persons between the age group 18 and 35 based on their capacities. The beneficiaries will be provided by meals and health security.