Living with Disability Research Centre Research Seminar Series

3:00pm - Professor Christine Bigby and Emeritus Professor Jacinta Douglas

Living with Disability Research Centre

Preliminary evaluation of the La Trobe Practice Framework to guide Decision Making Support for People with Cognitive Disability

The evidence based La Trobe Support for Decision Making Practice Framework was developed from a program of research over the last 10 years. It is designed to provide guidance to decision supporters of people with cognitive disabilities and improve their capacity for rights based support. Use of the Framework and associated training materials and mentoring has been trialled with 17 family supporters of people with intellectual disabilities as part of an ARC Linkage project and with 10 support coordinators working with clients of the Victorian Traffic Accident Commission. Mixed methods were used to evaluate training outcomes and application of the Framework in practice. Preliminary results suggest supporters found the Framework a valuable guide to practice and training increased their confidence, skills and strategies in providing rights based decision support.