PHILADELPHIA, June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

New relationship provides comprehensive educational online resource to help human service organizations achieve better outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities  

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, will collaborate with CQL, The Council on Quality and Leadership, an international provider of training, accreditation, consultation and certification services for human service organizations. The collaboration will result in the creation of a comprehensive online resource for the educational needs of direct support professionals, who work to improve the quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

The new content, developed through this new partnership between CQL and Elsevier DirectCourse and in collaboration with the University of Minnesota's Research and Training Center on Community Living, will focus on CQL's Personal Outcome Measures^®. One of CQL's flagship tools and a critical component to accreditation, Personal Outcome Measures® is focused on helping organizations deliver quality services that are defined by the people they support, through a standardized, person-centered approach.

"This collaboration is a way to combine the finest educational resources and platforms to help staff at human service organizations get the education they need online, at their convenience, and apply the skills to help the people they support achieve the best possible quality of life," said Cathy Ficker Terrill, President and CEO of CQL. "Not only is the initiative vital for our I/DD population but it also helps staff understand how they impact the lives of others in a profoundly meaningful way."

An effective data set for valid and reliable measurement of individual quality of life, Personal Outcome Measures® contain 21 indicators that define quality from the individual's perspective, including freedom of choice, employment, privacy, fair treatment and social support. Training will be offered through DirectCourse's College of Direct Support (CDS), a set of web-based courses designed for direct support professionals (DSPs) and others who support people with I/DD. Service providers can use the online courses to train DSPs to ensure that the services and supports they are providing have the desired results and outcomes for the people they support, as defined by the people themselves.

Additionally, DirectCourse CDS features other courses focused on person-centered practices, which help professionals in the field build upon Personal Outcome Measures®-related competencies, leading to more rewarding careers for them while providing human service organizations seeking or holding CQL accreditation key tools needed to maintain accredited status.

"Combining the CQL expertise and DirectCourse-related content will create a unique training resource that accredited agencies, service providers seeking accreditation and other quality-driven organizations can use to train their staff," said Amy Hewitt, Director of the Research and Training Center on Community Living at the University of Minnesota. "The result will benefit service providers, their staff and people supported, leading to a more rewarding experience for all involved."

The DirectCourse online curricula, including the College of Direct Support, College of Employment Services, College of Personal Assistance and Caregiving and College of Recovery and Community Inclusion, are designed to train the direct service workforce that supports persons with disabilities to remain in home and community settings and assists them to be employed. The curricula have been developed through a collaboration between Elsevier and various nationally recognized research and training centers, including the University of Minnesota's Research and Training Center on Community Living; the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston; the Community Living Policy Center (formerly the Center for Personal Assistance Services) at the University of California, San Francisco; and the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion of Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities.

About CQL, The Council on Quality and Leadership  

For more than 40 years, CQL | The Council on Quality and Leadership has been a leader in working with human service organizations and systems to continuously define, measure and improve the quality of life of all people. CQL offers training, accreditation, consultation and certification services to organizations and systems that share its vision of dignity, opportunity and community for all people.

About Elsevier 

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com

Media contact
Christopher Capot
Director, Corporate Relations
Elsevier
+1-917-704-5174
c.capot@elsevier.com

SOURCE Elsevier