Developing Measures of Job Performance for Support Staff in Housing Services for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

Background There is an absence of research concerning the assessment of housing support worker job performance, particularly in the development of job performance measures that reflect the priorities of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. Method A worker-oriented job analysis method was used to develop four short job performance measures for direct housing support staff, from the perspective of people with intellectual disabilities (n = 82), family members (n = 38), support staff (n = 122) and service managers (n = 115). Results All four job performance measures showed adequate internal and test-retest reliability and showed very few associations with staff and resident characteristics, although there were no associations between the job performance measures. The service user and manager-rated job performance measures showed the widest range of associations with aspects of staff well-being, service quality and service user choice and satisfaction with life, and show the most promise as short, practical measures of the job performance of direct housing support workers. Conclusions These methods of developing job performance measures show promise, and further investigation of user-defined staff competencies is warranted.

What qualities are valued in residential direct care workers from the perspective of people with an intellectual disability and managers of accommodation services?

“…The findings of this research are consistent with the previous research of Clarkson et al (2009) whose findings related to workers in forensic services for people with ID, FIELD (2006) whose findings related in general to disability workers and Hatton et al (2009) whose findings relate to RDCWs specifically. interacts with people, kind-natured, fun, helpful, respectful) and the practical skills and knowledge of RDCWs (e.g.…”

“…This study supported findings of previous research that has indicated that residents place a stronger emphasis on the interpersonal behaviours of RDCWs whereas managers place more emphasis on the skills and knowledge of RDCWs (FIELD 2006;Clarkson et al 2009;Hatton et al 2009). This study supported findings of previous research that has indicated that residents place a stronger emphasis on the interpersonal behaviours of RDCWs whereas managers place more emphasis on the skills and knowledge of RDCWs (FIELD 2006;Clarkson et al 2009;Hatton et al 2009).…”

“…The findings of Hatton et al (2009) andClarkson et al (2009) are consistent with the findings of FIELD (2006). Clarkson et al found that service users with ID living in a residential forensic service in Northern England placed importance on interpersonal qualities when asked what qualities they valued in their direct care staff (e.g.…”

“…achieving personally valued lifestyles (Stancliffe et al 2004;Hatton et al 2009). 3083, Australia (e-mail: gemma.dodevska@gmail.com).…”

“…Hatton et al (2009) used a complicated, multiphase procedure to develop their job performance measures; replication of these findings would be difficult and timeconsuming. While the above mentioned research has merit, the results warrant further investigation due to the methodological weaknesses of these studies.…”