Being in control: Choice and control of support received in supported living. A study based on the narratives of people with intellectual disability and support staff

ABSTRACT

Background: This research aims to study the role of people with intellectual disability in taking decisions regarding the support provided under the supported living model.

Method: Interviews were conducted with 13 people with intellectual disability, and six support professionals with experience working in organisations offering personalised support. These covered the person’s pathway, the support received, and their role in controlling this. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, and the data analysed through thematic content analysis in two consecutive phases, one descriptive and one interpretative.

Results: While supported living aims to provide personalised solutions to individual needs, support is conditioned to a greater or lesser extent by the assessment professionals make regarding the autonomy of the person with intellectual disability.

Conclusions: In order for individuals to make advances in their choice of, and control over, support received, people with intellectual disability must be empowered, and professional practices adapted through training.

KEYWORDS:

• Supported living
• independent living
• people with intellectual disabilities
• choice and control
• role of professionals

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to all those who agreed to participate in the interviews and share their experiences. Carol Puyalto, Gemma Diaz, and Beatriz Jiménez participated in the collection of data; the last-named transcribed the interviews.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 International study covering nine countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

2 AEES DINCAT is an organisation that represents entities and manages annual training plans according to the needs of the different services in the area where the personalised living arrangements program is run.

3 The names of participants receiving support are fictitous. The support professionals are referred to by letter S and the number corresponding to the service listed in Table 1. In the interviews with people receiving support, I1 refers to the first interview; I2, the second.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by MINECO (Spanish Public Science Foundation) through Grants EDU2014-55460-R and EDU2017-84989-R.