Personal assistance: what happens to the arrangement when the number of users increases and new user groups are included?

Using data from two representative surveys among the users of personal assistance in Norway carried out in 2002 and 2010, this paper examines developments and consequences of a strong increase of users and an extension of the target group. Users with mobility impairments still dominate, but the proportion of people with intellectual impairments, brain injuries, and sensory impairments have increased. The ‘new' users seem to be allocated fewer hours compared with those who received personal assistance at the early stages of the arrangement. Still, most users experience an increase in their welfare arrangements, as compared with the situation before they received personal assistance. The user control of the arrangement seems to be preserved, but it takes more different forms. For a higher proportion of users, one of their relatives or a guardian acts as a manager of the assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]