Self-determination as perceived by users in support services pursuant to LSS : An analysis on a municipal level

Abstract: Each year in Sweden, users in support services are invited to participate in a user survey investigating their perceived quality of care. Results of this survey on a municipal level have never been analysed. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to use survey results from 2019 to investigate differences between support services pursuant to the Swedish Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (LSS): daily activity, service home and group home. Furthermore, Self Determination Theory was used to consider the potential associations between the results of the user survey and the three basic psychological needs for self-determined behavior within the theory: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In addition, user-staff communication was analysed. For examining differences, Welch’s ANOVAs were performed. Comparisons between the support services were made for seven questions from the user survey. Results showed significant differences between the support services for all questions included. Post hoc-analyses revealed that daily activity differed significantly from service home and group home for all questions and had the higher mean for all but one question. Significant differences between service home and group home were found for two questions. These findings indicate that there is still work left to be done for increasing the self-determination of users in different support services on a municipal level. Potential reasons for these differences were discussed. Furthermore, it was concluded that Self-determination theory provided a useful framework for analyses of user experiences of self-determination as associated to the user survey questions.