Disability and mental health in the developmental age: intervention models and the client/service relationship in two centers of specialization in Belgrade. Pilot study

Abstract

This study is the result of scientific collaboration between the “La Sapienza” Faculty of Psychology 1 of Rome and the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation of University of Belgrade. The agreement between the two institutions includes a comparative study of intervention models on disability and mental disturbances in the developmental age. Majority of the pilot study was conducted at the Institut za Mentalno Zdravlje (IMZ, Institute of Mental Health) of Belgrade, while research samples were also provided by the Institut za Eksperimentalnu Fonetiku i Patologiju Govora (IEFPG, Institute of Experimental Phonetics and Pathology of Language).
Serbia provides a free public socio-health service for its citizens. It is organized in three levels: basic services, hospitals, and highly specialized centers. The two institutes involved in our study are both highly specialized centers.
The Institute of Mental Health (IMZ) is a national public health service that receives referrals also outside of Belgrade. The institution offers services to both adults and patients in the developmental age, and it is divided in many departments.
The Institute of Experimental Phonetics and Pathology of Language (IEFPG) operates in collaboration with the national health department and offers free services for language and hearing disabilities.
Personnel in both institutions are highly qualified and selected based on their curriculum vitae.
Our research, exploratory in aim as well as its methodology of data collection, was conducted in three phases: field observation, interview with key figures, construction and administration of questionnaires. These were conducted by one of the authors, who collected data for three months at the IMZ in Belgrade while being sponsored by the “La Sapienza” University.