Information infrastructure and quality person-centred support in supported accommodation: An integrative review

To integrate findings on the information infrastructure for people with intellectual or developmental disability (I/DD) living in supported accommodation, to understand how documentation use impacts person-centred support.

We conducted an integrative literature review. Following screening by two independent reviewers, we included English language peer-reviewed empirical studies (n = 34) on documentation use for people with I/DD in domestic-scale supported accommodation. We appraised quality and extracted information for iterative comparative thematic and content analysis.

All studies reported written documentation regarding either the person with disability or the residence. Eighteen studies focused on health-specific information. We identified three key themes impacting on the person-centred support; 1) level of inclusion and independence of people with I/DD, 2) the culture of support within group homes, and 3) the quality use of information.

Information infrastructure is closely aligned with the support culture in residences and can affect whether and to what extent key stakeholders (i.e., people with I/DD, family members) are involved in making decisions about healthcare and support needs.

Surveying local service health information infrastructure can provide crucial insights which can be leveraged to improve the safety and quality of supports provided for people living in supported accommodation.