Active Support, Participation and Depression

Abstract

Background Staff training in Active Support is designed to enable direct support staff to increase the engagement and participation of people with intellectual disabilities in a range of daily activities. Method Residents (n = 41) and staff of nine group homes participated. The effectiveness of Active Support was evaluated with a pre-test:post-test design, using a number of standardized assessments and other questionnaires, with group home staff as informants. These assessments were conducted before Active Support training and an average of 6.5 months later. Results Following implementation of Active Support residents experienced significant increases in domestic participation and adaptive behaviour. There were significant decreases in internalized challenging behaviour, overall challenging behaviour and depression. There was no significant pre-post change in other forms of challenging behaviour. Conclusions Our findings confirm and extend previous Active Support research showing that implementation of Active Support is followed by increased resident participation in activities. The significant improvements in adaptive behaviour, challenging behaviour and depression are of particular interest as the present study is among the first to report such effects. The study's limitations are discussed.

Improving Quality of Life Outcomes in Supported Accommodation for People with Intellectual Disability: What Makes a Difference?

“…(King et al 1971). A strong body of research now shows that if staff use Active Support outcomes improve across a number of quality-of-life domains, including time spent engaged in meaningful activities and social interactions (Mansell & BeadleBrown 2012), participation in a wide range of household and community-based activities (Jones et al 2001a), improvements in skills and personal development Mansell et al 2002), improvements in choice, self-determination and autonomy (Beadle-Brown et al 2012a,b), reduction in challenging behaviour (BeadleBrown et al 2012a,b) and mental health issues such as depression (Stancliffe et al 2010).…”

Implementation of active support over time in Australia

“…The consistent finding is that when well implemented, active support improves outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities across a number of domains: time spent engaged in meaningful activities and social interactions (Beadle-Brown, Hutchinson, & Whelton, 2012;Felce et al, 2000;Felce, de Kock, & Repp, 1986;Felce & Perry, 1995;Jones et al, 1999;Mansell, 1994;Mansell, Beadle-Brown, & Bigby, 2013;Mansell, Beadle-Brown, Macdonald, & Ashman, 2003;Mansell, Beadle-Brown, Whelton, Beckett, & Hutchinson, 2008;Thompson, Robinson, Dietrich, Farris, & Sinclair, 1996), participation in household and community-based activities (Jones, Felce, Lowe, Bowley, Pagler, Gallagher, et al, 2001;Stancliffe, Harman, Toogood, & McVilly, 2007), improved skills (Felce et al, 1986;Mansell, Ashman, Macdonald, & Beadle-Brown, 2002;Mansell, McGill, & Emerson, 2001), improved choice (Beadle-Brown, Hutchinson, et al, 2012), reduced challenging behaviour (Beadle-Brown, Hutchinson, et al, 2012;Jones et al, 2013;Koristsas, Iacono, Hamilton & Leighton, 2008;Stancliffe, McVilly, Radler, Mountford, & Tomaszewski, 2010), and mental health issues such as depression (Stancliffe et al, 2007). In a 2012 study, Beadle-Brown, Beecham, et al (2012) confirmed earlier research and demonstrated no differences in hours of staff or overall costs of care in services where active support was stronger compared to those where it was weaker.…”

Staffing numbers and active support: a case study

“…Active support Active support is an evidence-based approach to increasing participation in everyday activities by people with intellectual disability (Stancliffe et al, 2008a(Stancliffe et al, , 2010Totsika et al, 2008). Active support achieves this outcome by: B increasing the amount of time staff spend assisting residents to participate in activities;…”