COVID-19 Survey

Providing Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Direct Support Workforce Survey, 24-Month Follow Up

Over the past 24 months, direct support workers have experienced high risks of infection, hardship and exhaustion. Many have become ill and lost loved ones. The voices of DSPs and frontline supervisors matter, now more than ever. Show them you care about their wellbeing by sharing this confidential survey. The University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, in partnership with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, developed this survey to better understand the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on direct support workers and identify the most effective ways to protect DSPs, frontline supervisors, and the people they support.

Please visit z.umn.edu/dsp-covid19-survey to complete the survey. The survey closes on July 22, 2022.

Please forward this survey to the direct support workers that you employ, including paid family members. Their answers will be anonymous. National and state-specific results from the survey will be shared widely in September 2022. Three earlier surveys were conducted by ICI and NADSP and the results are available here. The new survey is for both direct support workers who completed an earlier survey and those who did not.

About the RTC-CL and NADSP
The Research and Training Center on Community Living for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (RTC-CL) has operated at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration since 1976. During this time, it has made many substantial contributions that have positively affected the field and the lives of people with disabilities by developing effective, research-based interventions and creating new knowledge that has influenced practices and policies for increasing community living and participation for people with disabilities. The RTC-CL is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In 1996, the National Alliance for Direct Support Professional’s ideological founder, John F. Kennedy Jr., wrote, ”Quality is defined at the point of interaction between the staff member and the individual with a disability.” Given this, NADSP’s mission is to enhance the quality of support provided to people with disabilities through the provision of products, services, and certifications which elevate the status of direct support workers, improve practice standards, promote systems reform and, most importantly, advance the knowledge, skills, and values of direct support workers. For more information, please visit www.nadsp.org.