Do personal assistance activities promote participation in society for persons with disabilities in Sweden? A five-year longitudinal study

Abstract

Purpose: To explore whether the personal assistance (PA) activities provided by the Swedish Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairment in 2010 and 2015 promote participation in society according to Article 19 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Methods: Register data and data from two questionnaires were used (N = 2565). Descriptive statistics and chi-square (McNemar’s test) were used to describe the basic features of the data. Mixed binominal logistic regression was used to examine correlation between gender and hours of PA between 2010 and 2015. Results: Despite an increase in the number of PA hours, more care activities and a reduction of most PA activities representing an active life were found. The result was especially evident for women, older people, and for a particular person category. Conclusions: The results offer evidence of a shift to a medical model and indicate a risk of social exclusion due to fewer activities representing an active life. An increase on average of 16 h of PA over the period studied does guarantee access to an active life and may indicate a marginal utility. The noted decline of PA for participation in society enhances the importance of monitoring content aspects to fulfil Article 19 of the UNCRPD.Implications for Rehabilitation Personal assistance (PA) in Sweden is a supportive measure for persons with disabilities; however, there are few studies to show whether PA activities are fulfilling disability rights of participation in society. The results show that PA activities are used more for medical care and home-based services over the five-year period. The study highlights the importance of monitoring aspects of content to ensure that the activities of PA comply with the policy objectives of the LSS legislation and Article 19 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), i.e., full participation in society. Monitoring efforts should include individualised planning and follow-up, moreover, ensure compliance with social service capacity at PA providers.