Managing system actions aimed at the life project for persons with disabilities:professional prefigurations for the case manager

Abstract

The current contribution is embedded in a broader research framework, based on an action-research project that started from the need of institutional innovation in a local welfare system, whose actors deal with social and educational policies addressed to the adult disability area. The project aimed at developing a new inter-institutional model of co-assessment and co-design for and with the adult with disabilities, developed at the same time as the establishment of the Multidimensional Disability Assessment Unit and in connection with the institution of the role of the case manager (cm). The action-research pathway then evolved into an evaluative research pathway aimed at analysing and implementing the service itself with a view to increasing the benefit for the users. One of the specific objectives of this second extension of the project is to explore and deepen the role of the cm, a professional figure activated within the action-research pathway. This contribution describes an introductory segment that constitutes an initial reflection to interpret and construct the profile of this professional figure, in terms of job description.