Abstract
In Vietnam, people with disabilities and their families are disproportionately poor, receiving little assistance from the government despite Vietnam’s rapidly developing economy. Non-governmental organizations play an important role in the support system for many families of people with disabilities, yet often operate from a narrowly defined set of interventions. This study, informed by a diverse set of stakeholders including people with disabilities, parents, government officials, and professionals, assists in constructing the meaning of a good life for people with disabilities in Da Nang, Vietnam. The authors used a qualitative thematic analysis approach to develop an ecological model of factors affecting the ability of people with disabilities to live a good life, organized into four ecological levels: personal, interpersonal, community, and sociocultural. Interplay between levels was common, suggesting the need for further intervention targeting multiple ecological levels, especially the sociocultural level that tends to go unaddressed in many current attempts at disability related assistance. Implications for practice and research are discussed.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to My Nguyen, Phong Le, Thom Van, Huong Thi Luong, and Nancy Letteri for their support in conducting this research.
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All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Bogenschutz, M., Im, H. & Liang, A. Ecological Model of a Good Life for People with Disabilities in Vietnam. Glob Soc Welf 3, 243–254 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-016-0068-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-016-0068-y