RESUMO
Objectives: Direct support professionals (DSPs) play a critical role in health-related outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who reside in congregate living settings. Large behavioral healthcare organizations often rely on staff to function as peer trainers for newly hired DSPs. Organizations should adopt empirically supported training techniques to prepare peer trainers for their role and develop systems to ensure ongoing integrity of the training system. The purpose of this program description is to summarize consultation activities that attempted to create these systems. Methods: Staff members were trained to function as peer trainers, an assessment was conducted to determine the barriers to training in the natural environment, and a systems-level intervention informed by the assessment was implemented to improve peer trainer integrity. Results: The assessment revealed peer trainers were often unaware when they were expected to train and did not receive feedback or programmed consequences for training newly hired DSPs. A systems-level intervention containing a prompt (reminder) about upcoming training and feedback plus a monetary incentive produced improvements in trainer integrity. Conclusions: A systems-level intervention based on an assessment can improve peer trainer integrity. Ensuring peer trainer integrity increases the likelihood that newly hired DSPs will implement health-related protocols with individuals with IDD.
RESUMO
Individuals with disabilities and seniors often lack the freedom to choose with whom they live and where they reside. Service options may involve moving consumers to large nursing facilities or other less-preferred settings rather than optimizing environmental supports in their own home or in less restrictive settings. Not only do adults usually enjoy greater choice when they live in their own homes relative to individuals living in congregate care or group home settings but independent and semi-independent settings are also associated with better outcomes and lower costs. Identifying variables that serve as barriers to independent living is especially important given estimates predicting that the numbers of seniors and individuals with disabilities will double in the next 20 years. This doubling will tax an already burdened and costly system of care. The present study queried consumers and other key stakeholders about potential barriers to independent living and their importance. Findings not only revealed a high degree of overlap between identified barriers and their importance ratings within groups but also showed clear differences in potential barriers across the groups assessed (individuals with disabilities and senior citizens).
