Improving Service through A Digital Assistant for Direct Support Professionals: Exploratory Focus Groups

Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who assist adults with autism spectrum disorder sometimes find it difficult to keep up with administrative tasks including the documentation of important data needed by others who also provide support to their clients (e.g. behavior analysts, physicians, other DSPs). Existing technologies, such as cameras, smart speakers and smart medication dispensers, could potentially be leveraged to help capture some of the data that DSPs are asked to report as part of their work responsibilities. However, it is not currently known whether DSPs would be amenable to using these technologies ‘on the job’. This paper presents preliminary results from two exploratory focus groups where DSPs were asked to discuss the possibility of using different types of technologies to facilitate capturing and reviewing data about clients they serve.