Evidence Matters is a collection of resources intended to promote the use of evidence-informed practices or ways of working.*
Evidence Matters Summaries can be used for:
- Supporting worker professional development and supervision
- Improving the quality of behaviour support plans and practitioner practice
- Informing a person’s decisions about their care
- Guiding organisations undertaking continuous quality improvement activities
These resources are intended for a range of audiences, including people with disability, providers, behaviour support practitioners and other NDIS workers. You may find summaries useful even if you are not listed as the suggested audience.
Evidence-Informed Practice Guide
Suggested audience: People with disabilities, families and carers, providers, behaviour support practitioners,
This practice guide is about evidence-informed practice. It defines what evidence-informed practice and gives guidance on ways to ensure practice is evidence-informed.
This guide looks at different types of evidence, the importance of considering the rights and perspectives of people with disability and the importance of expertise provided by professionals and those working in the implementing or practice context(s).
Organisational Approaches to Reducing Restrictive Practice
Suggested audience: Providers using restrictive practices
“Organisational Approaches to Reducing Restrictive Practice” was funded by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and was developed by Emeritus Professor Leanne Dowse and The Disability Trust.
This resource draws on the experiences of an organisation (The Disability Trust) as they worked to review restrictive practices across their services. Concepts explored in the resource include those such as:
- promoting a person-centred approach,
- ensuring successful communication with people with disability,
- undertaking organisation-wide planning for restrictive practice reduction, and
- addressing organisational culture.
Developing Quality Behaviour Support Plans
Suggested audience: Specialist behaviour support providers, behaviour support practitioners.
Developing Quality Behaviour Support was funded by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and was developed by Professor Karen Nankervis and Doctor Maria Vassos from University of Queensland.
This resource gives a summary of the literature that identifies aspects of quality behaviour support plans and provides guidance to behaviour support practitioners on how they can ensure those elements are addressed in behaviour support plans.
Medications for behaviours of concern for people with Autism
Suggested audience: People with disabilities, their families and supports; specialist behaviour support providers, behaviour support practitioners, providers using restrictive practices, health professionals.
These resources have been prepared by the NDIS Commission in the course of undertaking research to inform the development and evaluation of the use of behaviour supports. These resources may be used to develop strategies to the reduce or eliminate restrictive practices by NDIS providers.
Potentially avoidable deaths of people with disability in Australia in 2013-2018
This report summarises the findings of an NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission) led analysis of 9,062 deaths among 526,515 people accessing disability services under the National Disability Agreement (NDA) from 2013 to 2018. The primary aim of the current study was to identify all contributing health risks for potentially avoidable deaths (PADs). This study builds on a previous analysis undertaken by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW 2020) to identify causes and risk factors for deaths in people with disability, particularly where the death was attributed to their disability also known as “overshadowing”.
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*Whilst care is taken to ensure the accuracy and currency of these resources at the time of publication, these resources are not always updated after the fact. It is the responsibility of the viewer to determine the appropriateness of a resource as part of their own due diligence. These resources do not replace the need for individual expert advice.