Project Description:
This research is designed to validate the CareProfiler Post-Hire system designed to maximize the effectiveness of supports provided to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and age-related support needs (ARSN) through building the capacity of supervisors to serve as more effective leaders, increase job retention, and maximize the impact of organization training on staff skills and competencies through maximizing engagement with clients and ones job. The proposal is based on a conceptual framework for the delivery of supports rooted in the supposition that when supervisors provide individualized, appropriate guidance and support to direct support professionals (DSPs) and foster meaningful connections with the people they supervise, DSPs are more likely to treat their job as a profession, take on leadership roles, and thus encourage positive change in the quality-of-life lives of people they serve.
CareProfiler is an assessment and management consulting company that works with health and human service organizations. The organization assists human service and health care providers to build workplace cultures that lead to the development of effective relationships throughout the workforce and service delivery system. This is accomplished through the provision of supports to help member organizations identify, retain, and develop staff who have the capacity and motivation to effect positive cultural change.
The CareProfiler system is based on an initial Pre-Hire Screening of job applicants for DSP positions. The Post-Hire System was developed as a result of a clear need in the field to not only initially assess hiring potential, but to develop and sustain the capacity and skills of staff to effectively support clients. The CareProfiler Pre-Hire screening process has been validated on 12,000 participants and demonstrates a strong positive impact on staff retention, performance, and supervision effort. The Post-Hire system includes the following components: (a) a Manager Report for each employee based on the persons characteristics providing guidance to supervisors on how to best manage staff for maximum engagement with clients and the job itself; (b) Situational Management Training provided through in-person workshops for supervisors designed to reinforce the information from the screening report and stimulate collaborative problem solving; (c) Individualized coaching of supervisors on how to work most effectively with recently hired staff. The Post-Hire system has yet to be subjected to rigorous evaluation of its overall effectiveness and the impact of its individual components.
The University of Minnesotas Institute on Community Integration (ICI) is a University Center for Excellence in Disabilities (UCED) and a leader in research and evaluation of training programs designed to improve the services for people with disabilities. ICI will serve as an evaluator of the effectiveness of the CareProfiler Post-Hire system designed to build supervisor capacity to engage staff to build their job competencies and skills and stay on the job. The evaluation is designed as a cluster randomized control trial of the three components of the Post-Hire system on supervisor competencies and direct support staff engagement, skills, competencies and retention on the job supporting people with IDD and ARSN.
