CONTACT
Lee Rettig, Communications and Legislative Services, (402) 471-8287; lee.rettig@nebraska.gov
Lincoln – Nebraska ranks highly in services and supports provided to individuals with developmental disabilities, including work, voting, volunteerism and exercise, according to a recently released national survey.
The survey, called the National Core Indicators (NCI) Adult In-Person Survey, is a collaborative effort between the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, the Human Services Research Institute and U.S. states. The purpose of the program is to support states collecting a standard set of developmental disability related performance and outcome measures to maximize effectiveness of developmental disability services.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) key partner in executing the survey was the University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities program at the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation (MMI) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Nebraska was one of 35 states contributing to the study. It was the second year Nebraska participants were surveyed.
“While we realized statistical improvements, comparing last year's scores to this year's, the demographics of the survey changed," said Courtney Miller, Director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities. “In the first year of the survey, 42% of respondents lived at home and there were no respondents from the Intermediate Care Facilities (ICF). This year, more people who live outside of their homes and individuals who reside in ICFs were among those surveyed. That creates challenges for measuring short term improvements, but it helps to build a broad, solid baseline for identifying future successes."
A stated goal in the 2018-2019- DHHS Business Plan was to achieve improvements in the 13 categories in the 2017-2018 Adult In-Person NCI survey. Responses from Nebraska individuals were more positive in 8 of the 13 categories, representing a 62% improvement. The Division of Developmental Disabilities' (DD) focus on overall customer service to individuals and their families, efforts to provide technical assistance to providers and an increased focus on keeping stakeholders informed are some of the factors that contributed to the notable improvement.
The 2017-2018 results indicate that Nebraska ranked high in the following areas:
- Nebraska data was significantly above the national average and the highest in the nation for individuals reporting that they had a paid job (43%), with the majority of these jobs not using support of public funds and for volunteerism (53%). The majority of jobs were in cleaning (29%), followed by food preparation (23%), retail jobs (22%) and assembly (6%). Twenty seven percent (27%) of respondents indicated they were taking classes or training to get a job or improved position. Nebraska responses ranked significantly above the survey average for individuals having community employment as a goal in their service plan.
- Nebraska ranked first in the nation, along with five other states, in respondents taking part in their service planning meetings, at 100%, compared to the national average of 98%.
- Nebraska was significantly above the national average for individuals having a key to their home (82%), for individuals having voted or chosen not to vote in a local, state or federal election, self-advocacy meeting attendance and having rules about having friends or visitors in the home.
- Nebraska is significantly above the survey average for people letting the respondents know before they enter their home and having a place to be alone in the home. Nebraska's overall inclusion scale score of 90% was significantly above the national average.
- Nearly two-thirds (63%) of Nebraska respondents indicated they had some choice in their living location and (65%) had some choice or input selecting their housemates or deciding to live alone.
- A significant percentage of Nebraskans in the survey had input choosing staff or changing staff (75%), had help in deciding their daily schedule (93%) and chose, or had help choosing, how to spend free time (97%).
- Nebraska respondents reported significantly above the national average for having a dental exam in the last year, having an eye exam in the last year, having a hearing test in the last five years and having a flu shot in the last year.
- Nebraska response data was within national average for reporting if individuals are in poor health, if they had a physical exam in the last year and whether they had a colon cancer screening in the last ten years.
- Nebraska ranked the highest (58%) for people who strenuously exercise at least weekly.
- 95% of the Nebraska respondents have a primary care physician.
Respondents were also asked to identify their most significant support need in the survey. Nearly a third of Nebraska individuals listed transportation. Transportation was listed as the top support need by more than 40% of Nebraska respondents in the previous survey.
“We have a common goal to ensure that people with disabilities are treated as equals and that they are given the same decisions, choices, rights, responsibilities and chances to speak up to empower themselves," said Miller. “The results of the NCI survey help us determine what's important to the individuals we serve and to identify our priorities through their opinions. Supporting individuals' efforts to self-direct, to be active participants in their individual plans and to participate in self-advocacy is a key part of how we help people live better lives."
Nationally, 25,671 individuals were surveyed. The Nebraska sample included 420 surveys, with respondents ranging from 20 to 93 years old.
The survey responses for each state and national comparisons are posted on the NCI website (https://www.nationalcoreindicators.org/resources/report/).