Improving Service Performance in Organizations for Individuals with Intellectual Disability: An Intervention Focused on Participation of Families

Abstract

To improve service performance in organizations for individuals with intellectual disability, the authors tested an intervention based on collaborative teams. Specifically, professionals and families cooperated in the design and implementation of projects to improve the quality of life of individuals with intellectual disability. We considered two service performance indicators reported by family members (N = 342; 78% women; and a mean age of 57.17 years): service quality and self-determination communication openness. Our results revealed that family members assigned to the experimental condition improved their service quality evaluations from pre-intervention to postintervention, whereas family members assigned to the control condition did not change their evaluations. The intervention was not effective for communication openness. Perceptions remained stable in family members who participated in the teams (experimental condition), whereas communication openness decreased in family members in the control condition. We discuss the implications of our findings for service research.

Keywords

• intervention
• service quality
• self-determination communication openness