Living under the Strategy: Do Outcomes for Users of Welsh Community Residential Services Live up to the All Wales Strategy's Underlying Principles?

The results of a two-year study which assessed quality of life outcomes for residents of fourteen small-scale staffed houses in Wales are discussed in the context of the principles which underlie the All Wales Strategy for the Development of Services for Mentally Handicapped People. Housing quality and location, levels of community participation, individualisation and autonomy were generally found to be reasonably high. In contrast, levels of social participation and support for resident involvement in activity were typically low. Furthermore, it was found that people with more substantial disabilities tended to fair worse than others. These results are compared with outcomes reported for users of earlier ‘demonstration’ projects and brief suggestions for service development are made