Making life good in the community - Implementing a key working system in a group home data

*Community*

Making life good in the community is a three year research project that examed how best to support people with an intellectual disability living in group homes to lead fulfilling lives.

Sheet 1 (Copyright)

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Sheet 2 (Data)

Table 1
Demographic information for the residents at 96 High Street
Resident	Age	Years lived at KRS	Level of intellectual disability	Communication level (Triple C Bloomberg and West, 1999)
Alberto	42	42	Moderate	Stage 5
Aphrodite	64	42[1]	Severe	Stage 6
Brian	43	32	Moderate	Stage 6
Sarah	55	50	Severe	Stage 6
Simon	51	40	n/a	n/a[2]
Rose	55	47	Moderate	Stage 6


[1] Aphrodite moved to KRS in 1963 from another institution.
[2] When we collected this data it was not available for Simon. Our observations revealed that he had the highest level of adaptive behaviour and had the best spoken language of the six residents. An older profile of Simon that we did read stated that he mainly uses speech to communicate .



Table 2
Summary of community activities May 2006
Brian s activities	Frequency
Hairdresser	1
Shopping	4
Bowling	1
Swimming	1
Train ride	1
Schwerkolt Cottage and Historical Museum	1
Total	9



Table 3
Brian: Summary of community activities May to July 2006
Activity	Frequency
Brian	May	June	July	Total
Hairdresser	1			1
Shopping	4	2	1	7
Bowling	1	1		2
Swimming	1			1
Train ride	1	1		2
Schwerkolt Cottage	1			1
Church		1	1	2
Party at Temple Court		1		1
Eat out		1		1
Trip to Port Melbourne			1	1
Library			1	1
Circus			1	1
Total	9	7	5	21



Table 4
Size of resident group participating in recorded external activities
Number of service-users present at activity	Number of activities
	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Total	%	%
1	1	5	2	1	4	0	1	11	25	17.7	17.7
2	1	5	10	4	5	6	2	6	39	27.6	82.3
3	2	3	6	3	6	1	0	1	22	15.6
4	2	2	1	1	3	2	1	2	14	9.9
5	1	0	2	0	1	1	2	0	7	4.9
6	2	1	7	6	1	4	2	2	25	17.7
7+	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	9	6.3



Table 5
Strategies for getting to know a person
Where to go for information (Brost and Johnson, 1982, p.29-30)	Finding out about the person (Disability Services Division, 2007, p.29)
· The person being assessed is the first and most important source of information. The person must be consulted at every stage of the process; his/her preferences carry the most weight.	· Listen to them
· Observing in many service settings and environments	· Spending time with them in different situations and different settings
· Talking to all significant others	· Talking with others who know them well
· Checking files and records	· Although this section does not specifically mention written records it is possibly implicit in the following: Depending on its relevance, a person s life history and personal information may be gathered from a number of life stages and areas of importance



Table 6
Determining individual preferences
(Adapted from Brost and Johnson, 1982, p.44)
What an individual prefers might be influenced by:	How a keyworker interprets personal preferences might be influenced by:
· the number and kind of experiences or opportunities the person has had	· for how long and how well the keyworker knows the person
· what, how, and for how long the individual had received services	· the values of the keyworker
· the opinions and preferences of family members, guardians, advocates and significant others	· how willing and capable the keyworker is at interacting with the person
· the number of ways available to express desires	· what limits the keyworker sets on a person s capacity for growth and learning
· the skills and resources the person possesses and can use in alternate situations

Source : Department of Human Services