Identifying work preferences among supported workers with severe disabilities: efficiency and accuracy of a preference-assessment protocol
✍ Scribed by Dennis H. Reid; Marsha B. Parsons; Donna Towery; L. Perry Lattimore; Carolyn W. Green; Leah Brackett
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 174 KB
- Volume
- 22
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1072-0847
- DOI
- 10.1002/bin.245
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Despite considerable research on assessing preferences among people with severe disabilities, relatively little investigatory attention has been directed to preferences in supported work situations. We evaluated a protocol for identifying work preferences among adults with severe disabilities in supported jobs. The protocol involved obtaining opinions of support staff regarding most and least preferred tasks of a supported worker, conducting a multi‐task preference assessment and then if necessary, a paired‐task assessment for workers for whom the former assessment did not reveal work preferences. For the 12 participating workers, the multi‐task assessment revealed preferences for 7 of the workers and subsequently, the paired‐task assessment revealed preferences for 4 of the 5 remaining workers. The former assessment required 40% less time than the latter. Staff opinion required much less time to obtain, but accurately identified preferences (based on validation through systematic assessment) only somewhat consistently. Results are discussed regarding guidelines for efficiently identifying supported work preferences, and future research areas are noted for developing more definitive guidelines. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.