The efforts of direct support professionals to facilitate inclusion: the role of psychological determinants and work setting.
DSP attitudes toward inclusion—not just training—predict how hard they work to include clients, so organizations must target attitude change, not just skills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Austin et al. (2015) asked 1,000-plus Direct Support Professionals what pushes them to include clients with intellectual disability.
The team used a survey that measured each DSP’s attitude, skills, identity, and how much they cared about others’ views.
Work setting—community versus facility—was also tracked to see if place changed the results.
What they found
DSPs who felt “inclusion is part of my job” and trusted their own skills tried harder to get clients into everyday life.
Social norms mattered only if the DSP already valued inclusion; attitude came first, peer pressure second.
Community staff reported more inclusion effort than facility staff, but attitude still ruled the numbers.
How this fits with other research
Friedman (2018) extends the story: keeping the same DSP over time lifts client quality of life in safety, choice, and friendships.
Bould et al. (2019) and McGonigle et al. (2014) show practice leadership also boosts active support, yet Austin et al. (2015) prove attitude is the on-switch inside each staff member.
Pettingell et al. (2022) finds higher wages cut turnover, not gift cards—so pay matters, but without attitude change new staff may still leave inclusion on the table.
Whitehouse et al. (2014) adds a warning: harsh-dominant staff treat clients less warmly, backing the claim that inner stance drives outer action.
Why it matters
You can train skills all day, but if a DSP doesn’t see inclusion as “my job,” the extra steps won’t happen.
Build attitude first—use orientation stories, peer mentors, and public praise when staff take clients to regular spots like the library or coffee shop.
Pair attitude work with fair wages and strong practice leaders so the climate keeps the new mindset alive.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Various studies have found that direct support professionals (DSPs) play an important role in determining the degree to which people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are included in society. However, less research has been conducted on the psychological processes that may influence the behavioural intentions of DSPs to actually engage with and invest effort in supporting their clients' inclusion. Five possible psychological variables are identified in the literature: attitudes, social norms, experienced competencies, identity and meta-evaluation. In our research, we tested whether these processes influence the (intended) efforts DSPs make to facilitate their clients' inclusion. METHOD: A structured questionnaire was sent to 927 DSPs working in one of three different locations (an ordinary non-segregated setting, a reversed non-segregated setting and a residential facility). Of these, 336 DSPs completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: Several variables revealed differences between the three locations, specifically in efforts to facilitate inclusion, attitudes, social norms, experienced competencies and professional identity. Looking at the overall means, we found (relatively) high scores for the experienced competencies, role identity and meta-evaluation. In contrast, the means were relatively negative regarding the DSPs' attitudes to inclusion and their assumed social norms. CONCLUSIONS: Direct support professionals' efforts to facilitate inclusion depend on their attitude towards inclusion, the experienced competencies, their role identity, the DSPs' meta-evaluation and, indirectly through attitudes, also on the assumed social norms of the relevant stakeholders. Organizations responsible for supporting people with ID and which may want their DSPs to make greater efforts to facilitate inclusion should pay attention to these psychological variables.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2015 · doi:10.1111/jir.12209