Julia Harries

Support needs and adaptive behaviors.

We used a prepublication version of the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS), the Adaptive Behavior Scale-Residential and Community, and the Inventory for Client and Agency Planning to examine the relationship between support needs and adaptive behavior for 80 people with intellectual disabilities. Dimensionality of the SIS Support Needs Scale (Section 1) was examined in reference to the three areas of conceptual, social, and practical skills reported by the American Association on Mental Retardation as comprising the adaptive behavior construct. Factor analysis of the adaptive behavior subscales and SIS Support Need Scale offered support for measurement of a common underlying construct. When considered in terms of the three adaptive behavior skill areas, this construct related predominantly to conceptual skills.

Construct and criterion validities of the Service Need Assessment Profile (SNAP): A measure of support for people with disabilities

Abstract Background The Service Need Assessment Profile (SNAP) measures individual functional needs in areas of daily living. It produces a support profile, detailing the time allocations for staff support to assist in each area of need. The Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) is a support needs assessment scale designed to provide an objective measure of a persons need for support in medical, behavioural, and life activities. SIS can be used for individualised support planning, clinical judgements regarding support needs, resource allocation and financial planning. The Inventory for Client and Agency Planning (ICAP) assesses adaptive and maladaptive behaviours and gathers additional information to determine type and amount of special assistance that people with disabilities need. Method This study evaluated the construct and criterion validities of SNAP in relation to the SIS and ICAP, using assessment data from 114 individuals with a range of disabilities and levels of severity. Results Construct and criterion validities were supported for the SNAP by high correlations with SIS, ICAP, and staff estimates of support needs and by its capacity to discriminate between sub‐groups in expected ways. Conclusions The results provide support for the use of SNAP as a support needs instrument.

Impact of Additional Disabilities on Adaptive Behavior and Support Profiles for People With Intellectual Disabilities

Numerous researchers have reported a high incidence of additional disabilities coexisting with intellectual disabilities. Although an intuitive link can be made between the existence of multiple disabilities and greater need for support, little has been reported about this relationship. Using measures of adaptive functioning and support needs, we examined the extent to which adaptive and challenging behaviors and consequent support needs (including medical) were impacted by the presence and severity of additional disabilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Results show that adaptive behaviors and support needs were meaningfully related to the number and severity of additional disabilities present, whereas this was not so for challenging behaviors. Findings are discussed in terms of contemporary models of disability and functioning.

Reliability of the Service Need Assessment Profile (SNAP): A measure of support for people with disabilities

Background Measures for estimating costs associated with the provision of disability services in Australia have not previously been available. Because such instruments are scarce worldwide, decisions about funding services have relied more on historical precedent and less on individual need. Recognising the necessity for an objective measure, Gould (1998) developed the Service Need Assessment Profile (SNAP), a scale for estimating the support needs and associated costs for people with disabilities. Method This study examined the technical properties of SNAP using assessment data from 318 adults (190 males and 128 females), mean age 43 years, with a range of disability types and levels of severity, residing in supported accommodation around metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. Results Results suggest that SNAPs reliability varies across different sub‐groups and across domains. Conclusion Using SNAP assessments as a method for allocating funds/resources across the disability sector should be approached cautiously, bearing in mind the reported limitations.

Rater bias and the measurement of support needs

Abstract Background The development and use of support need instruments for funding disability services is a relatively recent initiative. Although the use of these measures appears at face value to provide an objective measure of support needs, little is known about their psychometric properties, particularly with respect to rater bias and purpose of assessment. A measure of support that has been developed in Australia to provide estimates of service needs and associated funding is the Service Need Assessment Profile (SNAP). Method This study investigated whether SNAP scores obtained for different assessment purposes – research and funding – are affected by rater bias, by comparing SNAP to 3 other measures of support from 29 people with intellectual disabilities. Results We found that SNAP scores completed for funding purposes showed an individuals support needs to be much greater than comparison scores on both SNAP and the 3 other measures obtained for research purposes. Conclusions Our results suggest that support measures such as SNAP may significantly overestimate support needs when raters know the assessment is being used for funding purposes.

Theoretical Components of Workplace Safety Climate and Their Implications for Practice

Management safety commitment is an important theoretical factor in safety climate measurement and research; however, the influence of co-workers has received less attention. This study investigated whether co-worker safety attitudes and behaviours contributed explanatory variance to associations with burnout or whether management attitudes and behaviours primarily determine this association. Hospitality employees (N = 111) completed safety climate, psychosocial safety climate (PSC), and burnout measures. Results showed safety climate was significantly correlated with personal, work and customer-related burnout. Multiple regressions showed co-worker factors did not add predictive capacity for burnout above management factors, although did for determining whether workers experienced customer-related burnout. Results were compared to findings for Disability Support Workers where co-worker factors added predictive capacity above management factors for burnout. Findings suggested worker and manager safety-related attitudes and behaviours are important theoretical components of safety climate, but their relative influence varies according to the safety climate measure used and organisational structure.

Translating into Practice the Recommendations of a Safety Climate Theory-Based Evaluation of Services Provided by Disability Support Workers

Disability support workers (DSWs) psychosocial work safety was evaluated using a work safety climate measure that included two theoretical components: perceptions of management and co-worker safety behaviours and attitudes. Based on findings, recommendations were identified to improve DSW safety, with seven recommendations translated into practice. Intervention outcomes varied from organisation-wide to limited worksite implementation. An 18-month post-intervention safety climate evaluation with 129 DSWs and 20 interviews showed DSWs were significantly less concerned about psychosocial safety hazards, with no differences for physical safety hazards. DSWs viewed management safety attitudes and behaviours slightly more favourably. Repeated health and well-being measures showed fewer DSWs experiencing burnout, more DSWs with health scores at or above norms and fewer at risk of depression. Post-intervention findings suggest the work safety climate measure with manager and co-worker attitudes components can be used with management efforts to address workers’ safety concerns and positively impact safety perceptions and well-being.