Young people with disability and the effectiveness of programmes in a Maltese day centre

Abstract

The main purpose of day centres in Malta is to provide day services for adult disabled persons through Aġenzija Sapport within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services. Day services provide different programmes which seek to help disabled persons acquire various skills and maximise their abilities. Departing from this purpose, the aim of this research is to evaluate from a service user and staff perspective whether the programmes delivered in one of the Day Centres run by the said agency are supporting Maltese young people with disability to reach their optimum level of independence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff and service users in order to allow the respondents to engage in discussion about their perception of the programme. Consequently four main themes and several underlying sub-themes emerged from data analysis. The analysis gives a clear picture of the perceived effectiveness of the programmes being implemented from the perspective of both the staff and service users. It also gives the respondents’ perspective on whether such programmes are meeting their aims or not. Thus, this study contributes towards a better understanding of the effectiveness of programmes and further knowledge to this area in order to increase awareness of the experience and quality of life of the people involved. Lastly, it identifies the relevant shortcomings in the provision of the day services which need to be addressed.