Living with Disability Research Centre Online Seminar

Perspectives about supported accommodation services for people with intellectual disabilities: What is associated with staff satisfaction and what do families think is important for a good service

Our September seminar will feature two presentations that look at recent findings from the La Trobe longitudinal study of supported accommodation services for people with intellectual disabilities.

Organisational Predictors of Staff Satisfaction in Australian Supported Accommodation Services

Dr Lincoln Humphreys, Research Fellow, Living with Disabiltiy Research Centre

Background: The quality of frontline staffs’ practice is a determinant of quality of life outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities living in supported accommodation services. Staff shortages and turnover present organisations with challenges in retaining good and motivated workers. Increasing job satisfaction may contribute to enhancing staff performance and reducing turnover. The aim was to examine whether dimensions of staff culture predict job satisfaction.

Method: Disability support workers and frontline supervisors completed a survey comprising measures of job satisfaction, role clarity and role conflict, the Group Home Culture Scale, and questions about work experience and personal characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the job satisfaction scale (n = 788 staff). Using data from 330 staff working across 74 accommodation services, multilevel modelling was conducted to examine predictors of job satisfaction.

Results: Exploratory factor analysis indicated three sub-scales of job satisfaction. The first subscale was about satisfaction with work conditions, which was predicted by role clarity, role conflict and the cultural dimension Collaboration within the Organisation. The second subscale was about satisfaction with tasks and development, which was predicted by role clarity and levels of engagement of the people supported. The third factor was about satisfaction with management, which was predicted by role clarity and Collaboration within the Organisation.

Conclusion: Organisational factors were found to be predictors of job satisfaction, suggesting that senior leaders’ decisions and actions matter to how staff think and feel about their work. Enhancing connections between frontline staff with senior leaders and the broader organisation, as well as providing frontline staff with clear expectations and support to perform their role, may increase job satisfaction.

Family perspectives on group home experiences of their relative with severe intellectual disabilities

Professor Christine Bigby, Director, Living with Disability Research Centre

Background: The rights paradigm emphasises the importance of hearing what service users value and what needs to change. People with severe intellectual disabilities are often unheard and close family the only people who know this group well and advocate for them with service providers. This study aimed to explore how involved family members think about the quality of the group home where their family member lives, and what they is important to quality.

Method: As part of a larger longitudinal study of supported accommodation services we interviewed 23 family members of 21 people with severe intellectual disabilities living in 17 separate group homes managed by 4 organisations. Interviews sought families’ views about the quality in their relatives’ service. Data were analysed using grounded theory methods.

Findings: Families’ perceived service quality as ‘pretty good at the moment’ but were uncertain about how long this would last, given the frequent changes in service leadership, atmosphere and support workers. They valued strong frontline leadership and regular communication with themselves, staff and leaders with energy and passion who knew their family member well and supported them to be engaged. They saw that unskilled leaders and staff often led to disengagement, a staff centred approach and simplistic interpretations of rights. They perceived staff as doing more paperwork now than in the past, were not keen to consider a move to alternative accommodation for their family member and were more engaged at the service level than with the organisations that managed services.

Conclusions: Families’ views in this study aligned with research about the importance of practice leadership, and provision of consistent support for engagement based on staff knowledge about each person. They were resigned to change but very concerned about staff turnover.

Our online seminars occur on the second Wednesday of every month at 3pm Melbourne time. Please email lids@latrobe.edu.au to register for or any further questions.