Living with Disability Research Centre Research Seminar Series

Supported decision-making: measuring change
Our first presenter reviews the development and features of the Decision Support Questionnaire (DSQ), which is a reliable measure of change in support practice. Our second presenter presents the findings from an evaluation of training and the adoption of a supported decision-making framework by the Public Trustee Queensland.

The Decision Support Questionnaire: Development, Reliability and Validity

Professor Jacinta Douglas, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University

This presentation will focus on the development and evaluation of the Decision Support Questionnaire (DSQ). The DSQ is a 32 item, self-report questionnaire, that enables supporters of people with cognitive disabilities (intellectual disability and brain injury) to identify the type and frequency of strategies they use when they provide support for decision making.

The results of two studies will be presented and discussed. Study 1 (39 supporters) evaluated content reliability assessed through analysis of internal consistency study 2 (23 supporters) evaluated construct validity through analysis of hypothesised within-subject item changes after training. Our results support the reliability and validity of the DSQ as an assessment tool to inform supported decision making practice.

Evaluation of a Structured Decision-making Framework used by the Public Trustee Queensland

Professor Christine Bigby, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University

This presentation reports on an evaluation of a Structured Decision-Making Framework introduced by the Public Trustee Queensland (QPT). Staff from QPT’s training division in collaboration with the La Trobe team adapted the La Trobe Support for Decision Making Framework and delivered one day training across the organisation from August 2020 to mid-2021. The evaluation explored whether staff used the Framework in their everyday work and if their practice changed.

We found that staffs’ confidence in supporting decision making increased and there were statistically significant changes to their practice that demonstrated  increased use of rights based decision support strategies. These changes are similar to earlier studies in which service coordinators and family members have been trained in the  La Trobe Framework (Bigby et al., 2021; Douglas & Bigby, 2020).