Measuring practice leadership in supported accommodation services for people with intellectual disability: Comparing staff-rated and observational measures

Background Studies incorporating staff-rated or observational measures of practice leadership have

shown that where practice leadership is stronger, active support is better implemented. The study

aim was to compare measures of practice leadership used in previous research to determine the

extent of their correspondence.

Method A subset of data from a longitudinal study regarding 29 front-line managers working across

36 supported accommodation services in Australia was used. An observed measure of practice

leadership, based on an interview and observation of a front-line manager, was compared with

ratings of practice leadership completed by staff. The quality of active support was rated after a

2-hour structured observation.

Results Correlations between staff-rated and observed measures were non-significant. Only the

observed measure was correlated with the quality of active support.

Conclusions This study provides evidence to support using an observational measure of practice

leadership rather than reliance on staff ratings.