Transition to retirement: The lived experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Adults with intellectual disabilities are living longer and experiencing retirement. However, research about retirement experiences is limited. METHOD: This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with 10 retired/retiring U.S. adults with intellectual disabilities and an ally of their choice. RESULTS: Participants described factors that pushed or pulled them into retirement, such as health issues or wanting to spend more time with family. Individuals in community work settings described greater self-determination in their decision to retire. Regardless of reasons for retiring, all participants described initial difficulties with adjusting to retirement but over time people's situation, including their mental and physical health, reportedly improved. CONCLUSION: Retirement is a significant life transition. More attention is needed about planning and developing age-appropriate and person-cantered inclusive retirement options for older adults with intellectual disabilities, similar to the transition into adulthood and work life.

Direct Support Professionals: Diversity, Disparities, and Deepening Crisis.

In the United States, direct support professionals (DSPs) support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) so they can live in the community. Thirty years of deinstitutionalization and the development of community living options would not have been possible without DSPs. Although life for people with IDD improved greatly, working conditions, wages/benefits, demands, stress/burnout, and trauma experienced by DSPs have worsened. Turnover and vacancy rates threaten the availability of community supports for too many people with IDD. DSPs from diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds face significant workplace disparities. These issues were discussed during the Research and Training Center on Community Living's 2022 State of the Science Conference. We propose important research questions needing solutions to continue constructively addressing these critical issues.

Incentives, Wages, and Retention Among Direct Support Professionals: National Core Indicators Staff Stability Survey.

Direct support professionals (DSPs) provide a range of supports in a variety of settings to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who count on these supports to live, work, and contribute in their communities. Despite this, high annual DSP turnover rates are problematic. DSP turnover is disruptive to people who receive supports as the lack of stable, reliable supports can negatively impact their important day-to-day outcomes (e.g., safety, community participation, and choice). Turnover also comes at a cost to provider organization in the hiring and training of new employees. To retain DSPs, organizations offer incentives (e.g., bonuses, retirement plans, health insurance). This study utilized National Core Indicators® (NCI®) Staff Stability Survey 2018 data to examine the relationships between wages, different types of incentives, including benefits (e.g., paid time off, access to health insurance, disability insurance, wage bonuses, health incentives programs, etc.) to annual turnover in participating states in the United States. Results indicated that incentives were not positively associated with DSP retention. Staff wages were the most notable factor associated with differences in DSP retention rates, along with the state in which the organization was located as well as organization vacancy rates.

Predictors of Annual and Early Separations Among Direct Support Professionals: National Core Indicators Staff Stability Survey.

Direct support professionals (DSPs) provide a broad range of supports in a variety of settings to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) that enables people to live, work, and participate in their communities. Despite the crucial importance in ensuring supports for community participation of people with IDD, high rates of annual turnover among DSPs in organizations that employ them have been documented for decades. This study utilizes National Core Indicators Staff Stability data from 2016 to examine the impact of organizational- and state-level factors related to DSP turnover, including annual DSP turnover and the percentage of DSPs who left their positions after less than 6 months. At the organizational level, a higher turnover rate in the last 12 months was significantly related to lower DSP wages and to not offering health insurance. At the state level, a higher turnover rate in the last 12 months was significantly related to a lower percentage of people living in individualized settings and lower per capita Medicaid spending. For early turnover at the organizational level, a higher percent of leavers within 6 months of tenure was significantly related to not offering paid time off and health insurance, higher vacancy rates, higher proportion of part-time DSPs, and lower overall staff sizes.

Exploring Retirement for Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: An Analysis of National Core Indicators Data.

To begin to understand retirement, we examined age-related differences in (a) employment rates, employment hours, and rates of individual-plan employment goals; and (b) participation rates in unpaid formal day programs. We report weighted analyses of 2014-15 National Core Indicators data from 32 states. Unlike younger age groups, a similar proportion of workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities continued working beyond age 65 as for the general community. We found that most workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities retire in older age and that their retirement appears to be sudden, rather than a gradual reduction in work hours. Facility-based day programs were the only program with an increased participation rate in older age groups, revealing an even greater reliance on facility-based services for older participants.