A quality framework for personalised residential supports for adults with developmental disabilities.
Use the nine-theme PRS quality sheet to see if a group home really puts the adult first.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lancioni et al. (2011) asked adults with developmental disabilities, families, and staff what makes a good group home. They ran focus groups and interviews. The team turned the talk into a nine-theme checklist.
The study did not test a treatment. It built a yardstick for quality.
What they found
The checklist has nine themes. Key items are choice, respect, and staff who know the person well. The list is short enough to use during site visits.
How this fits with other research
de Kuijper et al. (2014) made a similar tool for families of people with profound disabilities. Their 16-item Dutch scale also scores how person-centered staff act. Both papers give BCBAs ready-made rubrics instead of gut feelings.
Hamama et al. (2021) go one step further. They tell researchers to let participants pick the outcomes. E et al. did this by letting adults with ID help write the themes. The two papers share the same spirit but work at different levels: E for homes, L for studies.
Voss et al. (2021) show the next move. They trained Dutch staff in advance care planning and saw gains. Use E’s nine themes first to see what needs fixing, then borrow Hille’s training model to fix it.
Why it matters
You can print the nine themes on one page. Take it to your next residential team meeting. Ask, “Where do we score low?” Pick one theme and write a quick plan. In 30 minutes you have a staff-driven goal that already fits what adults with ID say they want.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The Personalised Residential Supports (PRS) Project provided detailed information about the nature, purposes and outcomes of PRS from the perspectives of key stakeholder groups including people with developmental disabilities, family members and service providers. Although these forms of support have developed over the past two decades, there is a dearth of empirical work that has explored the characteristics of PRS. In contrast, there is a multitude of empirical studies on congregate forms of residential support with a clear trend towards study of the characteristics of relatively small, congregate residential settings. METHODS: Personalised Residential Supports was conceived initially in the study as having four key criteria in the support arrangements - a high degree of: individualisation; individual/family influence; informal relationships; and, person-centredness. Four methods of data collection were used to develop a descriptive framework for PRS: a review of empirical and descriptive literature that met inclusion criteria; case studies carried out over 2 years of six adults whose living arrangements met the initial PRS criteria; a focus group of adults with developmental disabilities; and, a series of written surveys of 18 people who were 'experts' in their experience and knowledge of PRS-type support arrangements. The latter group included family members, service providers and policymakers. Each dataset was analysed separately and independently by the authors and a third researcher, followed by a process of conciliation and consensus in which the quality framework was developed. Two iterations of the expert group surveys were used to fine tune the framework. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis resulted in a PRS quality framework made up of nine themes containing 28 attributes. Descriptions of each theme and attribute are provided. The nine themes were named as: Assumptions, Leadership, My Home, One Person at a Time, Planning, Control, Support, Thriving and Social Inclusion. CONCLUSION: This study identified the characteristics of PRS as reported by key stakeholder groups. On face value, the themes expressed in the PRS framework have relevance to all forms of supported accommodation, for many different groups of people. The research is continuing by further development of the framework that will enable its use in the evaluation of existing or planned residential support arrangements.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2011 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01296.x