Quality of life,problems and needs's disable persons in responsibilty of Thachang subdistrict administrative organization,Chanthaburi Province.

Abstract

Background : Disable persons are a priority target grounp in the present.The purpose of this study were to examine quality of life,problems,and needs of disabled people under the responsibility of Thachang Subdistrict Administrative Organization,Chanthaburi,Thailand.

Method : This research dtsign was a Cross-sectional descriptive research.Both quantitative and qualitative research design were used.In quatitative research part,paritcipants were 64 with visual and physical impairment and 16 cargiver of mentally retarded and learning disabilities,whereas 10 disabled people with visual and physical impairment participated in the qualitative part.Data were collected using a set of questionnaires and in-dept interview method.Data were collected from March through June 2009.Quantitative data were analyzed using frequency,percentage,and simultaneous multiple regression,while the content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.

Results : In quantitative result, the overall and subdomain of quality of life of disabled people with visual and physical impairment were at the moderate level. Most of the problems that disabled people want to be solved from Tha Chang Sub District was health problems; whereas occupation arrangement and stimulating development was top of visual and physical impairment’s problem, mentally retarded and learning disabilities’s problem respectively. Participants’ participation in community activities and participants’ income proved to be independent predictive factors (R2 = 17.4) that were significantly able to predict the quality of life of the disabled people (p < .05). In qualitative result, participants mostly needed career support. The needed areas included funding support in career development, consultation in continuing funded career, and secondary job encouragement..

Conclusion: Based on these findings, it is recommended that Thachang Subdistrict Administrative Organization should encourage disabled people to participate in community activities and increase high-quality social welfare systems that are served disabled people directly and appropriately.Providing occupational support should be highly focused by creating career fair that includes career available for disabled people.

Key words: Quality of life/ Problem and need/ Disabled person