Person-Centered Planning: Evidence-Based Practice, Challenges, and Potential for the 21st Century

Abstract

Person-centered planning emerged in the 1990s as an innovative practice to assist persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The foundational purpose of person-centered planning is to assist the individual in developing service planning that reflects the needs and desires of the focal person with the disability. Despite its popularity with disability practitioners, advocates, and policy stakeholders, debate emerged at the beginning of the 21st century as to the viability of person-centered planning as an evidence-based practice. This article examines the historical development and evidence base, as well as the current challenges and potential of person-centered planning for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Day Service Provision for People with Intellectual Disabilities: A Case Study Mapping 15‐Year Trends in Ireland

“…On a more positive note, the changes that have occurred in Ireland since the 1950s reflect, to some extent, the general paradigm shift experienced internationally in the delivery of intellectual disability services (Bigby & Frawley ). Taylor & Taylor () describe this shift as an evolution from formal and professionally led treatment interventions towards an emphasis on the individual and individualized support. For Ireland, person‐centred planning remains the most innovative approach for achieving current policy goals related to individualization of services (Health Service Executive, ).…”

How best to support individuals with IDD as they become frail: Development of a consensus statement

“…11,12 Given the multitude and complexity of issues experienced by pre-frail and frail individuals, there is a risk of focusing on distinct deficits, rather than on the person as a whole and what he/she wants. Person-centred approaches are the foundation on which supports and services are planned in the field of IDD.…”

Em“body”ment and Disability: On Taking the (Biological) “Body” out of Em“body”ment

“…We can reply to this suggestion, however, by invoking an argument Zola offers against the traditional emphasis on individual conditions and so‐called “person‐centered” planning—which, he says, has proven to be stubbornly persistent and which, we can add, is still very much in vogue today (Taylor and Taylor ). These approaches are attractive, Zola suggests, because they are in line with other Western cultural assumptions.…”