Support staff in a sample of Australian community-based services for people with a disability: career intentions, personal characteristics and professional development needs

Staff characteristics and training are two influential factors in the design and development of human service systems. Despite close scrutiny of these components of service delivery in a variety of disciplines, relatively little is known about staffing issues in the disability industry. This study reports the characteristics, career intentions and professional development needs of staff from a wide variety of services for people with a disability in NSW, Australia. Staff were predominantly female, male staff were much less likely to regard their future career as lying in the disability field, and there was evidence that employers were providing some training to staff that addressed their professional development needs. The results are discussed in relation to the wider research literature and the need for further investigation in this area.