Abstract

CARMONA GALLEGO, Diego. Perceptions about care in adults with intellectual disabilities in an Argentine day center. Reflexiones [online]. 2024, vol.103, n.1, pp.73-104. ISSN 1659-2859.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/rr.v103i1.52223.

Introduction: This article starts from the perspective that affirms that care is more than a task and alludes to ways of linking each person with himself, with others and with ecosystems. In this way, the assumption that all people have knowledge about care and can care is supported.

Main goal: To analyze the perceptions about the care presented by adults with intellectual disabilities who attend a day center in the central region of Argentina, based on their own experiences and meanings.

Method and technique: The study is framed in the qualitative paradigm, from the Grounded Theory approach. This article presents the results of 10 in-depth interviews and 2 reflective conversation circles (focus groups) developed between the months of February and May 2022, with 10 adults of different genders and ages who attend a day center, dedicated to their social and labor inclusion.

Results and conclusion: Multiple perceptions about care are evident: as help with tasks of daily life, practices linked to control, relations based on reciprocity. People with intellectual disabilities are recognized by executing different care practices. The article concludes that the perceptions of the people who were part of this study are discordant with respect to the mostly current literature on the subject, which only considers their role as recipients of care. Likewise, they present perceptions that assimilate, as well as differentiate, control practices regarding care. These considerations call us to complex approaches to the subject, which allow us to identify the agency and the reception of care in the links beyond the existing roles.

Keywords : Ethics of care; Intellectual disabilities; Autonomy; Interdependence; Agency.

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