Personal assistance is a service intended for people who need the help of others to live independently. It provides them with help in daily tasks and the household, accompaniment, education or at the workplace, and communication. The basis of the personal assistance service is that the user independently manages decisions related to his life in cooperation with the personal assistant. Personal assistance requires respect for the user’s dignity and independence, his free decision in the selection of the provider of personal assistance, personal assistants, and the method of providing personal assistance. The provision of personal assistance strives to enable users to be included in society and to provide equal opportunities.
In the research, we focused on the user's perspective of experiencing a relationship with personal assistants from the point of view of intimacy and trust. Based on this, we included 9 users of personal assistance in the research. They have been exercising their right to personal assistance for at least one year. Using the phenomenological method, we investigated how they experience the personal assistance service, what it means to them in their lives, how they experience their relationship with personal assistants, and, especially, how they experience their intimate space in this relationship, and what are its boundaries and the fundamental components for ensuring trust.
Most participants experience the relationship with personal assistants positively and feel safe in their intimate space. The key to a safe intimate space and the presence of trust in the relationship lies in mutual respect and a cooperative approach, the assistant's compliance with the user's instructions, including the desire for privacy, and respecting the user's right to decide on his way of life and work.
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