deinstitutionalization

Noun

deinstitutionalization (usually uncountable, plural deinstitutionalizations)

1. (usually) The process of abolishing a practice that has been considered a norm.
   • The government began the deinstitutionalization of background checks for certain Federal jobs.
2. (usually, health care) The process of converting daily care for intellectually disabled people and mental health care for psychiatric patients from an institution-based model (focused largely on sequestering them in mental hospitals) to a community-based model (in which they live in small group homes or private residences to the greatest feasible extent).
   • By the 1970s, calls for deinstitutionalization had grown strong enough to yield systemic changes.
3. (usually) The process of releasing a person from a facility where their freedom to leave has been restrained.
   • The deinstitutionalization of minor offenders helps reduce prison overcrowding.
4. (usually) The process of reducing a person's dependence on an institutional environment.
   • After thirty years in the asylum, deinstitutionalization would present many problems.