Description

The College of Direct Support (CDS) is a web-based training tool for direct support professionals that includes instruction on established sets of ethical guidelines. The courses are competency based and provide further opportunity for assessment and development of skills after the on-line training is done.

Sponsoring Organization

Three organizations serve as key sponsors of CDS, providing, funding, web support, and curriculum development respectively. They are:

• My Life Foundation. Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, My Life serves people with disabilities through individualized programs and support, interdisciplinary service coordination, public awareness, and education.
  
  
• MC Strategies. This Atlanta, Georgia-based consulting firm provides e-learning solutions and performance-based services to healthcare organizations nationally.
  
  
• University of Minnesota's Research Training Center on Community Living (RTC). Based in Minneapolis, RTC provides research, evaluation, training, technical assistance and dissemination to support people with developmental disabilities.

Setting

Because the training is available through the Internet and learner-based, students may access the program from any computer. CDS is generally accessed from libraries, learning labs, and students' homes.

Target Group

Direct-support professionals (DSPs) who serve people with developmental disabilities, working independently in a variety of settings where they must make decisions without direct supervision.

Start Date

Development of the training modules began in 2002. The first group of trainees began using the curriculum in the fall of 2003.

Objectives

• To help DSPs meet nationally validated competency standards
  
  
• To provide an adult learner-centered curriculum that is accessible to all DSPs, even those who work unusual hours
  
  
• To provide employers with flexibility in meeting their training needs

Key Components

DSPs who take the training are eligible to receive college credit through the University of Minnesota or a certificate of completion from the CDS. While the CDS does not guarantee a wage increase or promotion for those who take the training, employers are encouraged to offer incentives to workers who complete the training.

Integral components of the CDS include:

• Individual Online Orientation. Much of the orientation content that is normally required in the beginning of a person's employment is included here, allowing employers to use the CDS as part of their orientation programs.
  
  
• Group Learning and Discussion. Students complete designated CDS courses/lessons by a specified time, meeting periodically with their supervisors to review and discuss the information presented.
  
  
• In-Service/Continuing Education. CDS courses can be used to meet in-service training and continuing education requirements on a wide variety of topics.

• Safety at Home and in the Community. Lessons cover safe driving, creating safe home environments, and safe handling of blood-borne pathogens (universal precautions and OSHA requirements), as well as how to prevent or respond to emergencies such as fires, natural disasters, and acts of terrorism.
  
  
• Maltreatment of Vulnerable Adults and Children. This course helps the learner understand the meanings of neglect and exploitation; identify suspected cases of abuse, neglect or exploitation; prevent abuse or protect someone who may have been harmed from further exploitation; and document abusive situations.
  
  
• Supporting Healthy Lives. This course provides an overview of what it takes to lead a healthy life and how to support people with disabilities in making good choices related to their health. It covers the importance of eating right and getting the right amount of exercise, reviews health-related issues across a person?s life span, and gives advice on working with health care providers. It also covers ways to recognize the signs and symptoms of illness, focusing on how to take care of someone who is ill.
  
  
• Individual Rights and Choices. This course covers the rights of individuals with disabilities, including a brief overview of relevant laws and their historical roots. It teaches how to identify restrictions of rights and how to balance the right to take risks with the right to be protected from harm, along with ways of facilitating the making of choices by the individuals to whom DSPs provide support. CDS recommends that the learner complete Maltreatment of Vulnerable Adults and Children along with this course.
  
  
• Community Inclusion. This course helps DSPs support the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in the communities in which they live and work. It provides an overview of methods of inclusion, explains why inclusion is important, and teaches strategies for matching community resources with individual interests and building bridges between individuals and their communities.
  
  
• Positive Behavior Support. An introduction to methods of supporting people who engage in challenging behaviors, this course details safe, fair, compassionate, and effective strategies for preventing and reducing problem behaviors. Students learn definitions of challenging behavior, along with basic behavioral terms and principles. Relevant rules, regulations, policies and rights are also covered.
  
  
• Documentation. This course covers why it is important to record specific activities or events. It also teaches different types of documentation, ways of effectively completing documentation, and the importance of maintaining confidentiality and also urges learners to review the policies and procedures of their employers and states. An easy-to-use tailoring feature allows agencies and states to present learners with information specific to them.
  
  
• You've Got A Friend: Supporting Family Connections, Friends, Love, and the Pursuit Of Happiness. This course explores the importance and meaning of human relationships in the lives of all people, including those with disabilities. It helps learners identify common perceptions and prejudices about people with disabilities that create barriers to social relationships, and teaches strategies for overcoming challenges that DSPs often face in supporting those connections for the people they assist. The course also covers family relationships and how learners can effectively support special, long-term relationships.
  
  
• Direct Support Professionalism. This course introduces the learner to the importance and benefits of a professional orientation to the DSP role and to the history and status of the professionalism movement, describing the national movement to make direct support work more professional and how DSPs can become part of the movement. It also reviews ethical codes for DSPs along with ways of applying these ethical guidelines in daily practice.
  
  
• Introduction to Developmental Disabilities. This course provides the learner with a background in the history, language, and basic concepts of services for people with developmental disabilities, reviewing the ideas and vocabulary that are important to working within the field of developmental disabilities.
  
  
• Teaching People with Developmental Disabilities. An overview of the important role DSPs have in teaching people with developmental disabilities, this course provides a basic understanding of the teaching and learning integral to direct support work. It helps students progress from being a 'caregiver' role to being a true supporter and professional by helping them understand the things that motivate people to learn, teaching strategies used to help people with developmental disabilities learn, and describing how teaching and learning can be effectively organized.
  
  
• Person-Centered Planning. The philosophies and strategies of person-centered planning and how to put person-centered plans into action.
  
  
• Cultural Competency. How to work within a diverse workforce and community and provide culturally responsive supports.
  
  
• Civil Rights and Advocacy. An introduction to the civil rights movement for people with disabilities and the implications for DSPs in daily practice.
  
  
• Administration and Use of Medications. A course on medication administration procedures and information regarding the use of psychotropics and other medications.

Results, Outcomes, Evaluation

The College of Direct Support served approximately 12,000 learners in December 2004. As of that month, an estimated 300,000 lessons had been administered through the College.

No formal evaluation has been conducted on the CDS, but the College collects information on the impact of the training tool on a course-by-course basis Its first evaluation brief was published in January 2005. In addition, the University of Minnesota is collecting information on learner satisfaction. The National Clearinghouse on the Direct Care Workforce will add information about the effectiveness of the CDS to this profile as it becomes available.

Meanwhile, the following anecdotal evidence has been offered in support of CDS:

• The Director of Pennsylvania's Office of Mental Retardation Consulting Services indicated satisfaction with CDS' effectiveness, noting that affiliated agencies in Pennsylvania give incentives to workers who take the CDS training, awarding those who complete the assigned training with a $500 bonus and a promotion from resident counselor to direct support professional.
  
  
• The corporate officer of professional development of SPIN, a non-profit agency supporting people with disabilities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said: 'CDS is an amazing resource for DSPs! We combine the multimedia instruction modules of CDS with our required training curriculum. Overall it has added depth to our professional development program.' SPIN offers a monetary bonus for every 15 CDS credits that an employee successfully completes.
  
  
• The state of Virginia completed an eight-month pilot program to test the quality of CDS and rated the course based on its overall excellence, convenience, learner assessment, and degree of interactivity. The state's DSPs completed 735 CDS courses. Of those surveyed, 94% reported that the CDS was an 'excellent course,' while 95.5% of users agreed that the CDS courses were 'convenient, easy to access and use.' Approximately 97% thought the CDS accurately assessed their understanding of the coursework, and 96% said the interactive nature of the exercises helped them understand the content. As a result of the pilot's success, Virginia is currently working to implement the CDS statewide.

Lessons Learned

The creators of the CDS have learned that the programs effectiveness depends on the public's willingness to embrace technology and the Internet as training tools for DSPs. To make the training more successful, CDS suggests that employers invest time and money into their employees and provide them with quality training.

Costs and Funding

The CDS received initial funding from the Administration of Developmental Disabilities, but it hopes to maintain sustainability by charging user fees. It cost CDS approximately $920,000 to develop the first eleven courses.

States and agencies that provide training to direct-support professionals must pay a licensing fee, which is based on the number of individuals trained for the access to the training module. In addition, they pay a $2,800 annual administrative fee. Subscribers are required to make a three-year commitment. Individuals may sign up for the courses at a cost of $25 each.

Contact Information

Bill Tapp
111 Center Park Drive, Suite 175
Knoxville , TN 37922

t: (865) 934-0221
f: (865) 531-4708
e: bill@collegeofdirectsupport.com
Website: www.collegeofdirectsupport.com/