A sense of quality of life of young people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

A sense of quality of life is an important element in the assessment of own existence for every person. The way of understanding reality is dependent on the overall life situation but also the perceptual and intellectual abilities. Therefore, on the canvas of above overall reflection it is considered that the presentation of the issue of the sense of quality of life in relation to a group of people with mental disability shall be interesting. Quality of life is a very personal measure of satisfaction and contentment with life, hence frequent identification of these terms. Although, when we analyse the quality of life of others beside the objective dimension, we should also take into account the subjective aspect. This article is a presentation of research results, which included a group of 360 people with slight and moderate mental disability, staying in the therapeutic activity workshops, special vocational schools and homes. The study was conducted using a sense of Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ) of the R.L. Schalock and K.D. Keith, in the translation and adaptation of A. Juros, for the purpose of collection of information concerning the respondents, a Personal card for people with disabilities (KI), constructed by T. Witkowski was used. The conducted analysis has shown that the main factor affecting the higher level of quality of life is a place of residence and degree of mental disability. The sex of the respondents does not change their life quality.