Effects of person-centered planning and practices on the lives of adults with IDD

NCI team members recently published the article “Effects of person-centred planning and practices on the health and well-being of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities: a multilevel analysis of linked administrative and survey data.” in the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jir.13015)

Here is an infographic illustrating the major findings of the paper.

Here below is a plain-language summary of what the article found!

Background

Person-centered practices (PCP) are considered a best practice for developing person-centered service plans. PCP in service planning are driven by service users’:

• Individual preferences
• Needs
• Priorities

US policies require state systems to adopt PCP. These policies apply to any home and community-based service setting. However, there is not enough research on how PCP impact outcomes for service users. This study aims to address this gap. This will be done by studying the relationship between PCP and outcomes for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) who use state-funded services.

Methods

Data for this study comes from the 2018-19 National Core Indicators® In-Person Survey (NCI). The NCI links survey responses with state records. This study includes a sample of 22,000 adults with I/DD getting services from 37 states. We used multi-level regression to look at user experience with PCP & outcomes.

We studied 5 outcome measures:

1. Choice and control over life decisions
2. Everyday choices
3. Satisfaction with community inclusion
4. Self-reported health
5. Whether a person feels their services are helping them to have a good life

We studied 4 measures of PCP:

1. Does your case manager/service coordinator ask what you want?
2. Are you able to contact your case manager/service coordinator when you want to?
3. Were you able to choose the services that you get as part of your service plan?
4. Does your service plan include things that are important to you?

 Results and Future Directions

There is a strong relationship between better outcomes and the PCP measures.  In particular, participating in developing service plans was positively associated with all five outcomes.

This study adds to the evidence of PCP as a best practice. This study also shows the value of linking survey data and state records to have a better picture of person-centered practices. Some of the call to action of this study are for stronger policy and training for PCP in state DD systems. This should include paid support staff as well as case managers.