Cost-benefit analysis of the deinstitutionalisation of a care home for the mentally handicapped

How deinstitutionalisation affect the wellbeing of care home residents? What are the costs and benefits of process?

In order to improve the wellbeing of its residents and support independent living, the high capacity residential care home of Göd is being divided into smaller units by its proprietor, the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta. The Revita Foundation and the Budapest Institute were commissioned to conduct a comprehensive study on the costs and benefits of the process.

The Revita Foundation will assess residents’ wellbeing, the attitudes of care workers, the organisation of services, organisational culture and attitudes of the local population on three occasions (baseline; immediately after moving out; 1-1,5 years after moving out). The data are collected using structured data sourcing, interviews, surveys and focus groups.

The Budapest Institute will develop the methodology of the cost-benefit analysis, comparing the maintenance costs and benefits from before and after the structural change. The analysis is based on surveys and document analysis.

The Budapest Institute has some prior experience in the analysis of deinstitutionalisation, conducted within the ’TÁRS’ project of the Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities Non-profit Ltd. (FSZK).

Our previous research in this topic:

Replacing institutions: reform of residential care for mentally disabled people

Under the cooperative agreement between the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and FSZK a restricted tender procedure was initiated for the review of the disintegration process at the residential care home in Göd, in which they accepted the mutual guidance offer from the BI and Revita foundation.