Project of the Month October 2003
Mentally challenged people can have a hard time socializing with others. But using the Internet they can still keep up good contact with others – when they are strong and possess the mental energy. This is well proven by the Break the Isolation Project under the Digital North Denmark.
By Naia Bang / Texthuset Aalborg
They are mentally afflicted and seriously ill. They often lead their daily lives on the institution that makes it up for their home – or on a psychiatric hospital. Only the most well functioning of them are socialize and go out in public. How can IT help this group of people?
Quite a lot actually, is the finding of Break the Isolation project. Even though the project running under the Digital North Denmark is not concluding until the end of the year a mid-term evaluation has been held. And it bears evidence that for example almost 78 percent of the users are frequently using the computer for surfing the Internet compared to 50 percent before the project was launched. And among those who took part in the project, 46 percent claim that today they have more contact with persons they knew already prior to the project. Further, with the aid of chat rooms, e-mails and closed conference systems, 34 percent of the participants have made contact to persons they did not know before.
- Once they have learnt how to use the closed conference system in First Class, they write together to their heart's content in all directions. They take an active part in debates on special topics. It could be hobbies or pets. So no doubt they have boosted their social competences substantially, tells Steffen B. Larsen, principal of the Special School for Adults of Vendsyssel.
The Special School for Adults has provided the education of the users in the 21 North Danish institutions involved in the project.
Susanne Jensen and Steffen B. Larsen, project managers are visiting the Fountain House in Nřrresundby where the IT Network Café is being heavily used.
Photos: Ajs Nielsen
The Project Contest Gave the Push
- Actually the project contest of the Digital North Denmark urged us to get going with the project. The actual democracy part and the fact that now we could really do something for our target group made us team up with SIND, an association for the mentally afflicted, relations and others with an interest and Danish Education Association and with the Special School for Adults, which were already working with education for the mentally challenged. With this project, however, we wanted to reach those who are hit the worst and see if the use of IT, could enable them to lead richer lives and have the contact with fellow humans working on their terms, explains Susanne Jensen, project lead and head of office in the Psychiatry of North Denmark with her office in the Psychiatric Hospital of Aalborg.
Originally the project group wanted to create a special portal for the mentally challenged, but funds were not granted for this. In the spring of 2001, however, the project could get started – with a total funding of approx. four million DKK. Half of this amount was raised by the actual project group.
21 psychiatric institutions and residential units were involved in the project and were offered two fully installed pc’s with software and Internet access so that they could create a local IT-Network Café. Of these the SIND association had eight PCs at their disposal. And the Net Café of the Activity Centre under the Psychiatric Hospital of Aalborg has expanded, so now they have four PCs, because there was such a heavy need for them among the patients.
Staff in Training
- I practice it has worked the way that in each institution one or several persons have been designated as IT tutors among the staff. And far from all knew the first thing about IT beforehand. They have been in training for this, and this way the project gave the spin-off benefit that part of the staff on the psychiatric ward became stronger users of IT technology, points out Susanne Jensen.
Three teachers from the Special School for Adults have been attached to the project and have travelled to the 21 institutions at least once a month and instructed those of the users that wanted this help. They have learnt how to use the First Class conference system, and they have worked with the med Internet Explorer and searching the Internet, the Outlook Express e-mail application, Windows 98, Word – and the advanced users had the option of working with image manipulation and the Publisher desktop application. Also the users received remedial and compensatory instruction. This was intended to make them better at handle their daily lives – in spite of their illness.
- We posed tasks to our participants in the course, which they were to solve between sessions and deliver to the teacher in the virtual classroom. And here the mentally challenged proved themselves to be exactly like the rest of the world: They loathe written homework. In the beginning we were a bit concerned about the failing response. But in the course of the process the teachers could observe that people picked up a lot anyway, reports Steffen B. Larsen.
As a mentally challenged person you can have your ups and downs. Here the e-mail has the advantage to the phone that you can wait responding to an e-mail until you feel you have the strength and surplus energy - and in the Break the Isolation project you can even get help to handle the computer.
Photos: Ajs Nielsen
156 users of the Conference Room
The degree to which the 21 institutions have had the opportunity to work with their new IT-Network Cafe varies a lot. Some have installed it in a dedicated room and may even have bought extra PCs dedicated to this purpose. Others have got PCs in a corner of the living room. And it varies greatly between institutions how much the computer is used in the normal run of things. Some places people are virtually queuing for the machines. Elsewhere a user or two may just want to check their e-mail in the course of the day.
- We know that 156 users have signed up for the conference room and most of them are frequent users. And a lot more are making use of the Internet. They may want to learn more about a hobby, check the bus or train schedules et cetera. And they use the same dating Web sites as the rest of the world, explains Susanne Jensen and continues:
- It may be hard to come up with a definitive answer to the question whether some of the mentally afflicted are getting any better by the project. But we do observe the significance of their role here as ”students”, not ”patients”. Many of them have made an extra effort to mentally energize and be prepared for the teacher's call to their institution.
- Our teachers reported that some of the users were all smiles when they returned after the summer holidays. And this is incredibly rewarding, states Steffen B. Larsen. The project runs until December 31rst this year, but the institutions will maintain their IT-Network Cafés. And Steffen B. Larsen and Susanne Jensen hope to find the means to continue the tutoring of the mentally challenged users.
Read more about the project on the Web site of the Digital North Denmark www.thedigitalnorthdenmark.dk. Also visit the project's own Web site: www.brydisolationen.dk
|
