Background: There is strong evidence about the effectiveness of Active Support. Recent research has established predictors of good Active Support as staff training, practice leadership, and service setting size. This paper explores features of organisational leadership and structures predictive of Active Support. Methods: Multilevel modelling with…

Background: With increasing reductions in funding for social care across many countries, the need to ensure that resources are used to best effect is becoming increasingly important, in particular for those with severe and complex needs. Methods: In order to explore the outcomes and costs of skilled support for this group of people, quality of…

Objectives: Research shows practice leadership to be a factor in the successful implementation of active support. The aim of the study was to explore differences in staff practice, associated with the presence of a practice leader in a shared supported accommodation service. Methods: Quality of support and engagement for 189 service users with…

Background: National minimum standards for residential care homes were introduced following the Care Standards Act 2000 in response to concern about the lack of consistency and poor quality services. These standards are intended to reflect outcomes for service users and to be comprehensive in scope. Method: This study compared ratings made by care…

Background: Organisational and service level factors are identified as influencing the implementation of Active Support. The aim was to explore differences in organisational leadership and structures to identify potential relationships between these factors and the quality of Active Support in supported accommodation services. Method: Fourteen…

Background: Active Support, now widely adopted by disability support organizations, is difficult to implement. The study aim was to identify the factors associated with good Active Support. Methods: Data on service user and staff characteristics, quality of Active Support and practice leadership were collected from a sample of services from 14…

Background: The aim was to explore the relationship between quality of active support and communication support for people in group homes with high and low support needs. Methods: Data from 182 service users, 20-81 years (mean = 40), 89 with high support needs, were observed to have either good (n = 142) or poor (n = 40) communication support.…

Background: Studies incorporating staff-rated or observational measures of practice leadership have shown that where practice leadership is stronger, active support is better implemented. The study aim was to compare measures of practice leadership used in previous research to determine the extent of their correspondence. Method: A subset of data…

Background: Research indicates the value of active support in achieving good outcomes across a number of quality of life domains for people with intellectual disabilities. However, implementation is not easy, and little research has explored why. We aimed to identify some of the factors that impact on implementation of active support in supported…

Background: The quality of life (QOL) of people with intellectual disability living in supported accommodation services is variable, influenced by many possible factors. Various frameworks have attempted to identify these factors without assigning value, direction of influence or relative impact on outcomes. Methods: A realist review of the…

Background: Quality of life of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities has been found to primarily depend on whether staff are providing facilitative and enabling support that helps to compensate for severity of disability. Managers have a key role in facilitating staff to provide such support. Method: Qualitative interviews were…

Background: Supported living is perceived as more flexible than group homes for people with intellectual disability. This study identified costs and factors associated with quality of life (QOL) in supported living and compared this with group homes. Method: Thirty-one residents in supported living participated in a survey incorporating measures…

Background: Dissatisfaction with the inflexibility of the group home model has led to the growth of supported living that separates housing from support and is thought to have greater potential for better quality of life outcomes. Comparative studies have had mixed findings with some showing few differences, other than greater choice in supported…

Background: Despite the acknowledged difficulties of measuring satisfaction for people with intellectual disabilities, the current study examined the quality of life (QoL) of the Camberwell Cohort, a total population sample of people with severe intellectual disability and/or autism [Wing & Gould, "Epidemiology and Classification," 9, 1979, 11].…

Individual plans for people with intellectual disabilities were evaluated for quality and effectiveness in improving quality of life. Quality was assessed by rating whether goals were relevant, observable, age appropriate, necessary, timetabled, developmental, measurable, realistic, assigned to staff and improving at least one of O'Brien's five…