Relationen mellan de boende och deras kontaktperson - En kvalitativ studie om upplevelsen att ha en kontaktperson

Sammanfattning: Aims: This study has investigated how people with both the legal intervention contact person and sheltered housing under LSS (Swedish Rights Law directed to people with disability) view the experience of having a contact person. The aim was to examine the interviewees’ experiences of the relation with contact persons. Method: Empirical evidence is based on four semi-structured interviews with four people who receive the interventions contact person and accommodation under LSS. A targeted sample was used. The interviewees have among other things described the relation, how they view the notion of friendship and of socializing. To interpret the significance of these statements, friendship was used as the main theoretical concept. To deepen the understanding of this concept in relation to the empirical material Steve Duck’s Functional Perspective and Derek Layder’s Theory of Social Domains have been applied as the next level of theoretical concept. Results: The analysis has shown that all the interviewees with both of the interventions, have perceived the relation to their contact person as a friendship. Half of them said that they cannot confide in the accommodation staff regarding private talk, but that they could do so with the contact person. Two quarters indicated that the contact person has more time for them than what the accommodation staff has. The results also suggest that half of them have made new social interacting with other people, since their contact person has introduced them to new acquaintances. Conclusion: The conclusions drawn from the study are that a contact person fulfils a part that nobody else in the intervention receivers' lives does, and that the relationship – once trust is established – has positive implications on emotional, social, practical and functional levels. In this way, the study has brought forward a modified and less normative understanding of the notion of friendship.