Housing and Support Program (HASP): Final Evaluation Report

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Section 1 Introduction
Table 1.2.1 Summary of the services provided by disability support workers (Warner et al. 1998)
Final Evaluation Report
Support type Content
Within the home (i) Emotional support Companionship, someone to talk to, watch TV with,
planning and goal-setting
(ii) Practical support Household tasks – cooking, cleaning, writing letters,
claiming benefi ts, paying bills
Outside the home (i) Social support Having a meal in a cafe or drink in a pub, going for walk
in a garden or park, going to bingo, going to church,
assessing local social networks
(ii) Practical support Using public transport, shopping, visiting GP,
mental health appointments, etc
(iii) Leisure activities Taking part in sports – swimming, aerobics, bowling,
fi shing, going to football games, etc
Liaison (i) Liaison with agencies Working with statutory agencies, such as housing,
mental health, disability services, support agency,
employment
(ii) Liaison with family Building relationships with family, friends and
other natural supports
Other studies (Harrington-Godley et al., 1988;
Mak & Gow, 1996; Clarkson et al., 1999; Lord &
Hutchison, 2003) report a similar range of support
interventions, including assistance with budgeting,
personal hygiene, building social networks, promoting
links to family/friends, providing psychological
support, advocacy and advice. It is also clear that
support workers provide a sense of psychological
assurance for people with severe disability –
they tend to be available at weekends and out of hours
when health professionals cannot be contacted (Oliver
et al., 1996). In effect, support services compensate
for the lack of family networks and other natural
support systems for those with psychiatric disability
living in the community (Oliver et al., 1996). Support
workers are frequently expected to serve as ‘bridges’
between the world of professional service providers
and the world of clients (Wadsworth & Knight, 1996).
It does appear that the services provided by disability
staff and clinical staff are on a continuum of service
provision, rather than being separate or parallel
services. While there are some activities that are
clearly the domain of clinical staff and some the
domain of support staff, there is likely to be some
overlap in service provision. For example, Case
Managers and support workers are likely to engage
in providing emotional support to clients, albeit
at different levels.
1.2.2 Outcomes for clients living in independent
housing with support services
While governments in Australia and overseas
are promoting involvement of the non-government
sector in the provision of support services to people
with psychiatric disability, there has been limited
evaluation of the services provided by the NGO sector.
Notwithstanding this, a small amount of literature
has emerged from work carried out in North America,
England and Australia. The table below provides a
summary of the key fi ndings from these evaluations.