The role of the personal assistant in improving the daily life of people with mobility impairments in Greece

Introduction: In Greece, one of the most important limitation of people with disabilities is the lack of personal assistant, something that has already been implemented in foreign countries, as defined by the UN convention on the rights of disabled people. The implementation of the personal assistant it has started in pilot form as it was voted in the bill of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Objective: The aim was to investigate the participants’ functionality and participation in various domains,  and how people with physical disabilities received help to perform activities of daily living and the daily environmental limitations they face. The main goal was to study the opinions of individuals on how the personal assistant will contribute to improve their quality of life.

Material-Method: Four online focus groups with fourteen participants with severe motor disabilities were conducted. Based on the International Classification of Functioning and Disability of the World Health Organization a question guide was created and included issues such as functionality, the degree, the way of meeting daily needs and the daily environmental limitations. The thematic analysis was the data analysis of choice.

Results: The participants were people with severe motor disabilities, which strongly affected the ability to perform, having the need of  a third person to support them in their  daily needs. Their participation in various areas was satisfactory since most of the participants had a job, were involved in sports and various artistic activities, receiving a lot of support from the family and friends. The serious environmental deficiencies are a significant obstacle in the daily life of people with disabilities in Greece, with the main limitation being the lack of the required assistance. The majority of help which people with disabilities receive,  is provided by the family, friends and/or partner, or by a paid assistant, having severe limitations in everyday life. From the results was emerged both the way the personal assistant will contribute to various areas of everyday life, as well as the necessary criteria and conditions for selecting the appropriate personal assistant to support people with disabilities in their daily needs.

Conclusions: “For the proper implementation of the personal assistant it is important to study both the needs of people with disabilities and the necessary criteria for selecting the appropriate personal assistant who will provide the best support to these individuals. The implementation of this program will allow people with disabilities in Greece to be independent and actively participate in society.