Factors associated with direct support professionals' behaviour in the physical activity support provided to people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

BackgroundDirect support professionals play an important role in facilitating physical activity support for people with intellectual disabilities (ID). This study examined how the characteristics of people with ID and the characteristics of direct support professionals are related to the professionals' behaviour when supporting people with ID in physical activity.MethodsA cross‐sectional approach was used. Direct support professionals (n = 217) who support people with ID completed a self‐report questionnaire, which aimed to measure the components that produced behaviour when providing physical activity support for people with ID. Associations with the characteristics of people with ID and the characteristics of the professionals were analysed using multivariate linear regression models.ResultsThe results demonstrate that the professionals' characteristics – such as age, workplace and training – were related to the variance in the components that theoretically produced the direct support professionals' behaviour. The characteristics of the people with ID did not contribute to the variance in the direct support professionals' behaviour.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that professional characteristics are the dominant reasons for the differences observed in the capability, opportunity and motivation of direct support professionals to provide physical activity support. This study also underscores the need for integrated training programmes to help direct support professionals promote physical activity in people with ID.

Development and process evaluation of a motor activity program for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

“…To improve the implementation process of the motor activity program in practice, it is important that more attention is paid to the structure for implementation [ 33 ]. As the current way of implementation largely relied on one direct support professional (the contact person), a training program for a team of professionals could improve the implementation of the motor activity program [ 33 , 40 ]. Implementation teams make the implementation process less vulnerable for one professionals’ individual view, capabilities and responsibility as well as for discontinuity, such as holidays and the move into other jobs [ 37 , 40 ].…”

“…As the current way of implementation largely relied on one direct support professional (the contact person), a training program for a team of professionals could improve the implementation of the motor activity program [ 33 , 40 ]. Implementation teams make the implementation process less vulnerable for one professionals’ individual view, capabilities and responsibility as well as for discontinuity, such as holidays and the move into other jobs [ 37 , 40 ]. In addition, implementation teams have a shared responsibility for the implementation of the program with regard to processes and timelines [ 33 ].…”

“…In addition, implementation teams have a shared responsibility for the implementation of the program with regard to processes and timelines [ 33 ]. Moreover, it is shown that the capability and motivation levels of direct support professionals could be improved with additional training in motor activity support [ 40 ]. Bossink and colleagues [ 40 ] have showed, for instance, that direct support professionals find it hard to structurally integrate motor activity within the daily program of people with PIMD, because they lack the required knowledge and skills.…”

“…Moreover, it is shown that the capability and motivation levels of direct support professionals could be improved with additional training in motor activity support [ 40 ]. Bossink and colleagues [ 40 ] have showed, for instance, that direct support professionals find it hard to structurally integrate motor activity within the daily program of people with PIMD, because they lack the required knowledge and skills. Not meeting the intended time schedule in the current study may be related to the capability of direct support professionals.…”

Needs of Direct Support Professionals to Support People With Intellectual Disabilities in Leading a Healthy Lifestyle

“…See Table 1 for a representation of the inter-relation of the TDF and the COM-B system, and an explanation of each construct. The TDF and COM-B system have been used previously to gain insights in low levels of physical activity for people with ID, factors that influence DSPs to support physical activity, and the influence of characteristics of both people with ID and DSPs in the support of physical activity (Bossink et al, 2017;Bossink, Van der Putten, Paap, & Vlaskamp, 2019;.…”