In my master's thesis, I was interested in the attitudes of residents, their caregivers and educators in the residential home for children and adolescents with special needs, the main disorder there being intellectual disability. Since no such research in Slovenian residential homes has been done and the attitudes of all participants are important due to their strong involvement in that environment, the aim of my master’s thesis was to find out about the attitudes of all participants towards the organization of life, education and work in the residential home. I have researched what they are most and least pleased with and what would they like to change. The data was collected with the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews, designed separately for the group of residents, caregivers and educators. Their answers were coded separately for each group. The results showed a great diversity of the sample, especially within the groups of residents and caregivers. Residents reported both satisfaction and dissatisfaction with other residents, educators, material goods, activities in their free time and dynamic environment. Caregivers described the well-being of the residents differently, they differed in their satisfaction with the work of educators and the way residents spend their time. They were pleased with the cooperation with professionals but they want a healthier diet for the residents and more time spent in nature. Educators were satisfied with their job, co-workers, freedom and support at work. They encounter difficulties cooperating with caregivers, teachers and other professionals. At work, they are dissatisfied with space limitations and too many residents, limited financial resources, poor nutrition, subordination to school work and heavy workloads. According to them, changes in the standards, better cooperation with teachers and adaptation of their requirements, external support for caregivers and adjustment of fulfilling individualized programs would also be needed.
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