Providing Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Direct Support Professionals Survey

Direct support professionals (DSPs), like the people with disabilities who they support, face a high risk of infection during the coronavirus pandemic. They also face financial hardship, exhaustion, and challenges in supporting their families.

The Institute on Community Integration (ICI) at the University of Minnesota, in partnership with the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), is conducting a survey on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on direct support professionals. After more than eight months since a national emergency was declared, we want to know how DSPs are doing and identify the most effective ways to protect them and the people they support.

Please forward this survey to the direct support professionals who you employ. Their answers will be anonymous. National and state-specific results from the survey will be shared widely in March 2021.

A similar survey of DSPs was conducted by ICI and NADSP in the spring of 2020 and completed by more than 9,000 DSPs. Those results are available here. The new survey is for both DSPs who completed the earlier survey and those who did not.

The Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota is a designated University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, which is part of a national network of similar programs in major universities and teaching hospitals across the country. ICI’s collaborative research, training, and information-sharing ensure that people with disabilities are valued by, included in, and able to contribute to their communities of choice throughout their lifetime.

The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals is a national non-profit whose mission is to elevate the status of direct support professionals by improving practice standards; promoting system reform; and advancing their knowledge, skills, and values. Our vision is a world with a highly qualified and professional direct support workforce who partners with, supports, and empowers people with disabilities to lead a life of their choosing.