Understanding support workers’ competence development in working with parents with intellectual disability

Abstract

Training for support workers who work with parents with intellectual disability can be aided by understanding how they perceive the training process and their competence development. This study explored the perceptions of competence development and the training process in Swedish support workers trained in the evidence-informed programme ‘Parenting Young Children’ (PYC). Training included a workshop, monthly peer support groups and access to a programme manual. Five focus groups discussed experiences of the PYC programme and the training they received. Twelve support workers completed a competency questionnaire. The findings of the current study suggest that perceived skill improved over time. Specifically, the findings suggest that peer support is a beneficial training follow-up mechanism for knowledge exchange and performance reflection. The main issues faced in skill development were transfer of learning and accessing parents to work with. These findings also highlight the importance of facilitative administration and technical support for managers and agencies.