Resources
The following resources were developed by the Institute on Community Integration, many in partnership with national colleagues in direct support workforce development.
Publications
A 52-page online book designed with infographics, photos, and accessible language that brings to life the 30-year story of three longitudinal data projects of national significance that study where people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities live, if and where they work, and how public money is spent on supports.
Community Living and Participation for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
This book explores how to create the ideal conditions to facilitate community living and participation for people with IDD. Specific topics include using person-centered and positive support practices, housing, employment, social inclusion and relationships, self-determination and self-advocacy, supported decision-making, health and wellness, planning for healthy and engaged aging, practices that promote quality outcomes, and the direct support workforce.
A resource guide presenting strategies and methods for covering the cost of continuing education and training for the direct service workforce
Direct Support Worker Survey 2019 Final Report (Minnesota)
This is the final report of the results from a statewide survey of direct support workers in Minnesota to better understand wages, benefits, size, and scope of the direct support workforce.
Find, Choose, and Keep Great DSPs
A pair of easy-to-use toolkits helping families and people with disabilities find quality, caring, and committed Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). There are two different versions of the toolkit – one for people with disabilities and one for their family members and support providers.
A biannual magazine covering the issues important to direct support professionals and supervisors who support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and other disabilities in a variety of community settings. Each issue contains resources, perspectives, and strategies to advance the profession of direct support. Published by the Institute on Community Integration in partnership with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals.
Frontline Supervisor Assessment
A test helping frontline supervisors and frontline supervisor candidates to evaluate their current performance level and create a self-development plan. It is based on the 11 competencies identified in the National Frontline Supervisor Competencies.
Frontline Supervisor Structured Behavioral Interview Questions
A set of behavioral and situational interview questions gauging the knowledge of external frontline supervisor candidates about the 11 competencies identified in the National Frontline Supervisor Competencies.
A brief summarizing the experiences of Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who worked in New Orleans between August 2005 and May 2006 - before, during, and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
This Impact examines some of the workforce challenges in our long-term care system and their consequences for people with disabilities, direct support professionals, families, provider agencies, and communities.
NADSP Code of Ethics for Direct Support Professionals
The Code of Ethics is intended to serve as a straightforward and relevant guide for DSPs as they resolve the ethical dilemmas they face every day and encourage them to achieve the highest ideals of the profession. This issue of Frontline Initiative includes videos illustrating the nine tenets of the Code of Ethics.
National Frontline Supervisor Competencies
A nationally validated set of 11 competency areas, known as the National Frontline Supervisor Competencies, guiding the work of frontline supervisors in the direct support workforce.
Policy Research Brief: Predictors of Annual Turnover Among Direct Support Professionals
This brief contains findings from a recent study that was a first of its kind to look at both organizational- and state-level factors related to turnover among direct support professionals (DSP), using data from the National Core Indicators (NCI) Staff Stability Survey.
Residential Information Systems Project (RISP)
RISP is a longitudinal study of long-term supports and services (LTSS) that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) receive. An annual survey of state IDD agencies is used to gather information about the settings in which LTSS recipients live, federal and state funding mechanisms used, residential setting type and size, age of recipients, and expenditures. A technical report is published annually describing the data from the most recent state fiscal year.
Report to the President 2017: America's Direct Support Workforce Crisis
The President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) released its 2017 report, America’s Direct Support Workforce Crisis: Effects on People with Intellectual Disabilities, Families, Communities and the U.S. Economy. The full report and a shorter plain language are available.
Road Map of Core Competencies for the Direct Service Workforce
A series of reports identifying a common set of core competencies across community-based long-term services and supports sectors: aging, behavioral health (including mental health and substance use), intellectual/developmental disabilities, and physical disabilities.
Staff Recruitment, Retention, & Training Strategies for Community Human Services Organizations
A 15-chapter textbook and how-to guide helping organizations to select and implement strategies that address the challenges of recruiting, retaining, and training direct support professionals.
The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19 National Survey Report 2020
Through an initial survey and follow-up surveys at 6 and 12 months fielded by the Institute on Community Integration and the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, this study gathered evidence about the experiences of the direct support workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform efforts to better prepare for future waves of this pandemic and other emergencies.
Policy Research Brief: The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19 – Work Life and Wage Augmentation
This brief reports findings from a recent study exploring direct support professionals providing support during the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on work life and wage augmentation.
Policy Research Brief: The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19– Low Wages and Racial Disparities
This brief reports findings from a recent study exploring direct support professionals providing support during the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on low wages and racial disparities.
Policy Research Brief: Predictors of Annual Turnover Among Direct Support Professionals
This brief contains findings from a recent study that was a first of its kind to look at both organizational and state level factors related to turnover among direct support professionals, using data from the National Core Indicators Staff Stability Survey.
Policy Research Brief: The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19 – Vaccinations
This brief contains findings from a recent study of COVID-19 and vaccination rates among DSPs. The study revealed multiple reasons why DSPs choose to receive the vaccine or not, such as accessibility, fear of vaccination, and cultural influence.
Policy Research Brief: Wage Compression Among Direct Support Professionals
This brief explores wage compression in the direct support workforce and the challenges of finding and keeping quality DSPs from a recent study exploring DSPs providing support to individuals with IDD during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Education and Training
An online competency-based curriculum for direct support professionals. CDS has more than 145 hours of training developed by the University of Minnesota's Research and Training Center on Community Living. Part of DirectCourse curricula.
A suite of competency-based, online curricula for professionals providing services to people with intellectual, developmental, physical, and psychiatric disabilities, and to older adults. Operated by a partnership of the Institute's Research and Training Center on Community Living and Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical information.
Film/Video
Become a Direct Support Professional – What if you could change your life?
30-second public service announcement produced by the Institute on Community Integration in partnership with ANCOR.
Become a Direct Support Professional – A career that is more than a job
30-second public service announcement produced by the Institute on Community Integration in partnership with ANCOR.
Become a Direct Support Professional – Make a difference
30-second public service announcement produced by the Institute on Community Integration in partnership with ANCOR.
Become a DSP – high school grads
20-second public service announcement produced by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota in partnership with The Arc.
20-second public service announcement produced by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota in partnership with The Arc.
20-second public service announcement produced by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota in partnership with The Arc.
20-second public service announcement produced by the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota in partnership with The Arc.\
Direct Support: A Realistic Job Preview (ANCOR/RTC)
A video illustrating the real, everyday work of direct support professionals (DSPs) in the field of developmental disabilities. Produced in collaboration with ANCOR.
Direct Support: A Realistic Job Preview (The Arc/RTC)
A video illustrating the real, everyday work of direct support professionals (DSPs) in the field of developmental disabilities. Produced in collaboration with The Arc of the United States.
A documentary film telling the stories of DSPs from New Orleans who, despite long hours, low pay, and tremendous stress and trauma, continued to provide support services during and after the storms while often not knowing the fate of their own families.
Invaluable: The Unrecognized Profession of Direct Support
A documentary film exploring the underappreciated and underfunded work of direct support professionals, the people who support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in living full lives as members of their communities.
Of the Community: Eight Stories of Community Living, Participation, and Inclusion
A film produced by the Institute on Community Integration telling the stories of eight individuals with disabilities who have vibrant lives in which they live and participate in their communities in the ways they choose.
Valuing Lives: Wolf Wolfensberger and the Principle of Normalization
A film produced by the Institute on Community Integration documenting the social paradigm shift triggered by Wolf Wolfensberger, a professor and change agent who, in the early 1970s, popularized and expanded the principle of normalization of people with disabilities into a framework for community inclusion. The film provides a rich historical overview of community services for people with IDD.
Webinars
The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19: Vaccinations
This Policy Forum addresses COVID-19 vaccinations among direct support professionals. It contains findings from a 2021 study on COVID-19 and vaccination rates among DSPs conducted by ICI and the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals. John Raffaeile from NADSP joined faciltator Julie Bershadsky to discuss this topic.
Wage Compression Among Direct Support Professionals
This Policy Forum addresses findings from a recent study exploring the work of DSPs during the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of finding and keeping staff in a field that has experienced high turnover for decades. This problem is exacerbated by low starting wages, averaging only $11.56 an hour in 2019, and wage compression, where there is little difference in pay between new and more experienced staff. Discussants include Michelle Murphy, The Arc Mid-Hudson; Mary Lou Bourne, Management Support Solutions; Sharon Lewis, HMA; and Stephen Pawlowski, HMA
The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19: Low Wages and Racial Disparities
This Policy Forum addresses low wages and racial disparities in the direct support workforce, revealed in a survey of approximately 9,000 DSPs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussants include Amy Hewitt from the Institute on Community Integation and Joe Macbth from NADSP.
The Direct Support Workforce and COVID-19: Work Life and Wage Augmentation
This Policy Forum addresses wage augmentation and the quality of work life in the direct support workforce, revealed in a survey of approximately 9,000 DSPs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussants include Joe Macbeth and Ramu Iyer.
Predictors of Annual Turnover Among Direct Support Professionals
This Policy Forum addresses predictors of annual turnover among direct support professionals, using data from the National Core Indicators (NCI) Staff Stability Survey. Discussants include James Houseworth and Amy Hewitt from the Institute on Community Integration.
30 Years of Community Living
A 52-page online book designed with infographics, photos, and accessible language that brings to life the 30-year story of three longitudinal data projects of national significance that study where people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities live, if and where they work, and how public money is spent on supports.