Effectiveness of Active Support on the quality of life and well-being of people with moderate to mild intellectual disabilities

Active Support is a support model designed to enhance quality of life through activity engagement in people with intellectual disabilities. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether implementation of Active Support affected quality of life, well-being, and activity engagement of residents with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, using a cluster randomised controlled design. Fourteen services were recruited, and Active Support was implemented after conducting baseline assessments. Residents in both the intervention group (n = 47) and the control group (n = 38) reported on their Quality of Life, eudaimonic well-being, and activity engagement at pretest and at follow-up 9 months after pretest. Level of Active Support implementation was monitored by observing the quality of support and practice leadership. Active Support had a significant effect on independence and well-being, two subscales of quality of life. Residents in the intervention group showed a significantly larger increase on social activity engagement compared to the control group. There were no significant interaction terms for other resident outcomes. For the intervention group, there was a significant increase in quality of support. Findings indicated significant impact on some aspects of quality of life, though not all. Suggestions for future research are therefore discussed. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS?: Active Support is a support model that is increasingly adopted across several countries. Although there is considerable evidence that Active Support increases activity engagement for people with an intellectual disability, there are very few randomised controlled trials to test effectiveness, and the impact of Active Support on overall quality of life has never been examined. To address these gaps, the current study therefore evaluated the impact of Active Support on quality of life and resident well-being using a randomised controlled trial. This evaluation of Active Support contributes to the existing body of knowledge on the support model, strengthening its evidence base for people with moderate to mild intellectual disability.