Form 5 DD Council: Group Interview with Recipients of Education

RECIPIENTS OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING TO IMPROVE COMMUNITY CAPACITY

[Interviewer]: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. My name is [interviewer’s name], and I work for _______________, a private research company in ___________________.

The Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) is conducting an independent evaluation of Developmental Disabilities Network programs and collaboration among them. The purpose of this evaluation is to examine the impact of the Developmental Disabilities (DD) Network programs on the lives of people with developmental disabilities and their families. The DD Council that contacted you to participate in this evaluation is one of ____ DD Councils in ____ states that have been randomly selected to participate in the evaluation. As someone who participated in a DD Council-supported program to build community capacity, you are an important source of information. We have some questions we would like to ask you about your experiences with the DD Council program you attended and the ways in which you used or hope to use the information you obtained. The interview should last approximately ½ hour – 45 minutes.

Before we begin, I would like to ask your permission to record this interview so that we do not miss any of your responses to our questions. This recording is for _____ ‘s use only. It will not be made available to anyone else. Do we have your permission to record?

Do you have any questions before we start?

Background information

Let’s start with some information about you.

1. Prior to participating in the DD Council-supported program, what kinds of experiences or background did you have with people with developmental disabilities? Please describe.

Probe:

• Personal disability

• Family member with a disability

• Worked with people with disabilities

• Other

2. How did you first learn about the DD Council?

2. How did you learn about the program?

Council-supported education and training program

2. Please describe the program you participated in.

1. What was the name?

2. When did you attend?

3. Where was it held?

4. What type of format was used (e.g., discussion group, lecture, other)?

5. What did the presenter talk about?

Probe:

• Legislation (e.g., Americans with Disabilities Act, Workforce Investment Act)

• Services and resources available to people with developmental disabilities

• Gaps in supports and services

• Accommodations

• Ways to obtain accommodations

• Other ______________________________________________

2. Were accommodations made available for you or others who might have needed them? Please describe.

Probe:

• Use of accessible locations

• Training materials

• Distance learning

• Facilitation in obtaining assistive technology for participants

• Other __________________________________________________________

2. What was done to make sure these education activities were culturally competent and appropriate for you?

• Please describe the process.

• Please describe the materials that were used.

Probe:

• Format

• Language

• Readable for people with minimum English-language skills

• Language geared to your background and training

• Other

[Obtain 3 examples.]

Results of Council-supported training program

Now let’s talk about what you learned, your overall impressions of the training program, and your experiences in using what you learned to help people with developmental disabilities and their families.

2. What were the most important things you learned from this program?

Probe:

• Legislative requirements

• Services and resources available to people with developmental disabilities

• Gaps in supports and services

• Accommodations

• Ways to obtain accommodations

• Other

2. How did this program help you to become familiar with issues affecting people with developmental disabilities? Please describe.

2. Have you had the opportunity to use what you learned from the training program ? If yes, please describe your experiences. If no, please explain the reasons.

Probe:

• Transferred the knowledge and skills they obtained to their work

• Improved their effectiveness in providing services or supports to people with developmental disabilities

• Improved the effectiveness of the community in including people with developmental disabilities in all aspects of life (e.g., improved the accessibility of the workplace; obtained assistive technology for an employee)

• Served more people with developmental disabilities

• Other __________________________________________________

2. What did you think of the training program you attended? How satisfied were you with …? Please explain.

	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Not satisfied at all
Accessibility of setting/location?
b. Accommodations that were provided?
c. Type of information covered?
Usefulness of training materials?
Clarity of training materials
Appropriateness of training materials?
Relevancy of the training materials?
The program overall?

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the training program you participated in? Do you have any questions before we end this discussion?

We’d like to thank you again for taking the time to answer our questions.