Encouraging paid workers to employ an appropriate respectful personal relationship with young people with disability will lift standards in the sector, according to new research.
It will lead to children and young adults with cognitive disability feeling valued, respected and cared about in their daily lives and, in turn, give carers more job satisfaction and self-respect, a new paper published in the international Disability & Society journal has shown.
The in-depth study of 42 pairs of Australian support workers and young people with disability, recommends high quality personalised care builds self-esteem, confidence and self-respect in the young person, as well as the support worker.
Lead researcher, Flinders University Professor of Disability and Community Inclusion, Sally Robinson said there is a pressing need to monitor and support relationships in a strategic and concerted way as they move into increasingly devolved spaces of care under individualised funding policies such as the NDIS.
“It’s a significant and responsible relationship between paid carers and people with disability, but it must be a mutually beneficial situation, and one the NDIS care packages can do well with proper guidelines,” Robinson said.
The dire circumstances of poor quality care relationships has come under more scrutiny during COVID-19 social isolation, UNSW co-author Professor Karen Fisher said.
“This research found that supporting workers to value the contributions of people with disability in the same way as they treat other people is a protective mechanism for both.”