The Effect of Active Support Interactive Training on the Daily Lives of Adults with an Intellectual Disability

Background Interactive training (IT) is one of the two staff training components of the active support (AS) model. The present study explores how effective IT is when offered to staff divorced in time from the AS workshops, the other training component. We explored the effects of IT on resident activity engagement, challenging behaviours and staff assistance. Materials and Methods Twenty-one adults with an intellectual disability living in residential settings participated. Observations and ratings of staff and resident behaviours were obtained before, immediately after the training sessions, and at 6 months follow-up. Results Group-level analyses indicated a short-lived improvement in quality of staff support but, in general, there was an overall lack of change in staff behaviours, resident engagement and - observed and rated - challenging behaviours. However, subgroup analyses indicated that there was a significant improvement in engagement immediately after IT for a distinct subgroup of participants; those who had significantly higher aggressive behaviour ratings at the beginning of the study. Conclusions Findings support the combination of the training components of AS for improvements in the quality of life for people with intellectual disability. IT may also be worthy of future study as a potential stand-alone intervention for people with the most difficult challenging behaviours.