Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
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Is your advocacy service up to scratch?
- Author:
- STEPHANELLI Hilary
- Journal article citation:
- Community Living, 20(2), November 2006, pp.20-21.
- Publisher:
- Hexagon Publishing
Asist is a generic advocacy service which works with people with disabilities or mental health needs who live in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. The author describes the monitoring system they have developed to streamline their advocacy service. The system uses a 20-question questionnaire to gather users' views about the service.
Using quality of life to evaluate outcomes and measure effectiveness
- Authors:
- KOBER Ralph, EGGLETON Ian R.C.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 6(1), March 2009, pp.40-51.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Evaluating the outcomes achieved by service providers who assist people with intellectual disabilities is extremely important in terms of ascertaining whether service providers achieve their goals. The authors provide support for the emerging view that quality of life is an outcome measure that can be utilized to assess service providers' performance. To do this they modified a performance measurement framework to illustrate how quality of life can be incorporated in a comprehensive analysis of the outcomes achieved by various stakeholders of the service provider. They then used three examples drawn from the literature (relating to employment services, the U.S. state of Nebraska, and family quality of life), to highlight how this framework could be applied. Ideas are also presented on other areas where a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, incorporating quality of life measures, could form part of a service provider's performance evaluation. The authors review some issues that should be considered in relation to the implementation of a comprehensive performance measurement system that incorporates quality of life as one of the outcome measures.
Evaluating the performance improvement preferences of disability service managers: an exploratory study using Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model
- Authors:
- WOODERSON John R., CUSKELLY Monica, MEYER Kim A.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 30(4), 2017, pp.661-671.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Background: Front-line managers play an important role in managing the performance of staff working in services for people with intellectual disability, but little is known about the practices they prefer to use to improve staff performance and whether these align with what research has shown to be effective. Method: This study comprised two phases. First, the present authors tested the validity and reliability of a short questionnaire designed to evaluate managers’ preferences for performance improvement practices. Then, the present authors collected and analysed responses from 175 managers working in disability services in Queensland, Australia. Results: The questionnaire demonstrated good content validity, concurrent validity and test–retest reliability. The participants believed strategies related to changing employee individual characteristics to be more effective than strategies aimed at improving environmental factors. Conclusions: This study provides important considerations regarding the professional development needs of front-line managers working in organizations that provide services to people with intellectual disability. (Publisher abstract)
Utility of logic models to plan quality of life outcome evaluations
- Authors:
- ISAACS Barry, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 6(1), March 2009, pp.52-61.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Quality of life is widely accepted as an important concept in the evaluation of health and social services provided to persons with intellectual disabilities. While quality of life has been studied as a service outcome and measure of program improvement, its application to multiple levels of program delivery and evaluation remain unclear and can be difficult for community-based agencies that lack resources. An approach using program logic models and including program staff can build evaluation capacity. Logic models can be used to link service components with relevant quality of life outcomes at short-term, intermediate, and long-term points in service delivery. The models can then guide the development of evaluation plans. A case example of how this approach is being used at a service agency in Toronto, Canada, is described. An explanation of how an agenda for quality of life program evaluation developed within the agency is provided, and links between service activities and quality of life outcomes are described. The integration of program logic models into an expanded organizational model defines how quality of life data can influence decision making about programs at the service, organizational, and system levels.
Investigating four evaluation measures that aim to capture the impact of service intervention for children being seen by a community learning disability team
- Authors:
- HEBBLETHWAITE Amy, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Tizard Learning Disability Review, 12(4), December 2007, pp.20-30.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Government guidelines state that health services must measure outcomes for patients. However, there is only limited evidence on outcome measures for children with learning disabilities. This paper reports on a study designed to investigate the suitability and effectiveness of four outcome measures (Health of the National Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents - HoNOSCA, Children's Global Assessment Scale - C-GAS, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire - SDQ, and Commissioning for Health Improvement Experience of Service questionnaire - CHI) for a community team working with children and learning disabilities in the north of England. The paper highlights the difficulties in capturing the impact of service intervention in a multidisciplinary community setting. The implications of the research for clinical practice are discussed.
Measuring the outcomes of care homes: final report
- Authors:
- NETTEN Ann, et al
- Publisher:
- Personal Social Services Research Unit
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 117p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Canterbury
The authors report on a project which developed and tested an approach to measuring and monitoring outcomes of the care and support provided to residents of care homes for older people and people with learning disabilities. The research was part of the ‘Measuring Outcomes for Public Service Users’ (MOPSU) project, which was funded by the Treasury under the Invest to Save budget and led by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The domains that comprise social care related quality of life (SCRQOL) formed the basis of the measures used in the study.
More than just a quick fix? The potential of joint commissioning in services for people with learning disabilities
- Author:
- CAMBRIDGE Paul
- Journal article citation:
- Research Policy and Planning, 17(2), 1999, pp.12-22.
- Publisher:
- Social Services Research Group
Joint working between health and social services has a long record of fragmentation and under-performance in community services for people with learning disabilities. This article examines the renewed potential for joint commissioning in the context of the Government's emerging social care policy agenda, including its commitment to partnership and performance management. Drawing on case evidence from learning disability and the wider academic literature, it identifies pointers for the development of joint commissioning in learning disability and argues for the monitoring and evaluation of emerging models.