Quality Measures 2005®
Wallara gained accreditation by the Council on Quality & Leadership employing the QM2005 framework on August 21, 2008. This built on our previous accreditation reviews in the Personal Outcome Measures.
Quality Measures 2005® combines CQL's personal outcomes approach to quality definition and measurement with the lessons of social capital and the growing importance of community as the context for quality.
Quality Measures 2005® comprises five sections: Shared Values, Basic Assurances®, Responsive Services®, Personal Outcome Measures®, and Community Life®. These measures form the basis for the CQL Accreditation process.
Shared Values identifies the values that shape the way we define, measure, and elicit feedback about quality of life and quality of services. Organisational values drive organsaitional behavior. Ethical practices reflect a service provider with sound values. Leadership practices, management decisions, organisational priorities and the character of the workforce are influenced by organisational values. Just as individual behaviors are driven by our internal belief systems or values, our collective values guide our organisational behavior and shape our organisational culture.
Basic Assurances® details the essential, fundamental and non-negotiable requirements for all service and support providers. These include an emphasis on rights and responsibilities, health and safety as well as the areas or risk management and financial oversight. CQL's Basic Assurances® require more than compliance with licensing and certification standards. Basic Assurances® looks at the provision of safeguards from the person's perspective. While the Basic Assurances® contain requirements for certain systems and policies and procedures, the effectiveness of the system or the policy is determined in practice, person by person.
Personal Outcome Measures® focuses on the choices people have in their lives, which serve as a powerful tool for evaluating the quality of life for people and the degree to which the Service Provider individualizes supports to facilitate outcomes. People define outcomes for themselves. The outcomes are non-prescriptive; they have no norms. Each person is a unique sample of one. The meaning and definition of personal outcome items will vary from person to person. CQL measures the presence of the outcome as defined by each person.
Responsive Services® address the question of how the Service Provider provides Basic Assurances®, builds social capital, contributes to Community Life® and facilitates personal outcomes. Responsive Services® broaden the definition of quality to include responsiveness to people served rather than a single criterion of compliance with standards and organisational processes.
Community Life® fosters the bridging role of service providers in building social capital for people, connecting them with other people and resources in the community and defining quality in the context of the community rather than that of the program or service.
Personal Outcome Measures®
CQL shifted the definition of quality from compliance with program or process standards to responsiveness to people. Work on the Personal Outcome Measures® began in 1991, as CQL held focus group meetings with people with disabilities and their families. People defined the outcomes that were most important to them. CQL introduced the Outcome Based Performance Measures in 1993 and the modified Personal Outcome Measures® in 1997.
The Personal Outcome Measures® represented a significant departure from traditional quality systems. CQL shifted the focus to measuring individual quality of life. Not only were the measures different, the process of gathering information also changed. Personal interviews with people with intellectual disabilities, people with mental illness, or people with other conditions are the foundation of the data gathering process. The measures are applied and evaluated based on the unique characteristics, needs, and desires of each individual.
The shift to Personal Outcome Measures® was consistent with the movements toward self-determination and self-advocacy in the 1990s. Personal Outcome Measures® are also used to promote and monitor person-centered planning.
The 21 Personal Outcome Measures® are organized in three factors:
My Self: Who I am as a result of my unique heredity, life experiences and decisions.
My World: Where I work, live, socialize, belong or connect.
My Dreams: How I want my life (self and world) to be.
Personal Outcome Measures®
My Self
- People are connected to natural support networks
- People have intimate relationships
- People are safe
- People have the best possible health
- People exercise rights
- People are treated fairly
- People are free from abuse and neglect
- People experience continuity and security
- People decide when to share personal information
My World
- People choose where and with whom they live
- People choose where they work
- People use their environments
- People live in integrated environments
- People interact with other members of the community
- People perform different social roles
- People choose services
My Dreams
- People choose personal goals
- People realize personal goals
- People participate in the life of the community
- People have friends
- People are respected
To learn more about Personal Outcomes click here to Dowload a PDF
