A PROCESS FOR MEASURING ADOPTION OF INNOVATION WITHIN THE SUPPORTS PARADIGM

This study describes a method to measure adoption of person-centered p lanning, a key element of the emerging supports paradigm. Based on the Levels of Use framework outlined by Hall and his colleagues to measur e adoption of an innovation, the six-item Guttman scale yielded a coef ficient of reproducibility of .90. Initial psychometric testing was ba sed on the responses of 27 employees of an agency that provides servic es to persons with developmental disabilities. Those scoring highest o n this scale were significantly more likely to have attended multiple training sessions on person-centered planning and to report that perso n-centered planning training has changed how they think about clients. This instrument can assist managers and trainers in determining the e xtent to which trainees are adopting person-centered planning and can be useful to researchers who wish to explore what variables are relate d to adoption of person-centered planning.