Special Issue: Ameliorating Issues Faced by Direct Support Professionals Who Serve People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

This is the second issue of a special series focused on topics related to direct support professions who serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The first issue (10:4) was published in December of 2022 and featured several novel articles about the stability of direct support professionals. As anticipated, the special issue created several conversations in the field about ways to ameliorate barriers related to recruiting, supporting, and retaining highly skilled direct support professionals. Our goal with this issue is to continue those conversations and, more importantly, seek ways to shape better working conditions and systemic training, education, and investment so that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are provided quality supports to live valued lives in our communities.We reaffirm the 2016 joint position statement of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) and National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP; 2016) and their comprehensive approach for implementing and disseminating evidence-based practice, research, and training to address the needs of direct support professionals. The current issue continues with four additional articles extending research from the first issue, but with additional novel ways to provide interventions, programs, trainings, and other supports for direct support professionals. We will close out the special series with one final article that will be included in the December 2024 issue. For now, we hope that you enjoy this current collection.