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Support Characteristics Associated With the Quality of Life of People With Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities: The Perspective of Parents and Direct Support Staff
Author(s) -
Petry Katja,
Maes Bea,
Vlaskamp Carla
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of policy and practice in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1741-1130
pISSN - 1741-1122
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-1130.2007.00107.x
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , psychology , multiple disabilities , general partnership , teamwork , intellectual disability , quality (philosophy) , developmental psychology , psychiatry , philosophy , finance , epistemology , artificial intelligence , computer science , political science , law , economics
The authors examined which support characteristics are associated with the quality of life (QOL) of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). The authors invited parents and direct support staff of people with PIMD to adopt the perspective of their child or the person with PIMD for whom they care. Some 76 parents and direct support staff of people with PIMD were interviewed, and to obtain data, transcripts were analyzed in‐depth. The respondents mentioned: (1) characteristics with regard to the structure of the setting (physical environment, staff ratio, staff turnover, group size, and group composition); (2) characteristics with regard to the internal organization of the support (partnership, teamwork, interdisciplinarity, and support planning); and (3) characteristics with regard to the support staff (experience, sensitive responsiveness, commitment and motivation, physical strength, knowledge and skills, and self‐reflection). The respondents considered structural as well as operating features of the support setting to be important for the QOL of people with PIMD. The authors conclude that their main emphasis, however, was on the central role of direct support staff in supporting people with PIMD.