Every year, thousands of Pennsylvanians are interviewed by IM4Q staff to learn about the overall quality of life for people who receive support through the Office of Developmental  Programs in Pennsylvania.

The interviews are conducted in each of Pennsylvania's 48 County Administrative Entity programs by 38 select, independent programs throughout the Commonwealth. Interview teams, each including a person with a disability or a family member are carefully selected and thoroughly trained.

In 1997, Pennsylvania's Office of Mental Retardation (OMR) (now called Office of Developmental Programs) began disseminating its multi-year plan. A pilot program for "independent monitoring" of the vision, values and goals contained therein was conducted in 1999-2000. The final report was used as the basis of the State Report of IM4Q and as the foundation for the development of a Quality Action Plan that is being implemented with all intellectual disabilities system stakeholders.

Along with stakeholders, the Institute on Disabilities developed the program. It also created the survey. The Institute provides training and technical assistance to the interviewers, analyzes the data, and produces an annual statewide summary report along with reports for each county Administrative Entity program.

• A full description of the IM4Q methodology and procedure is included in the annual summary report.
• Counties select local IM4Q Programs to conduct the interviews
• The Institute on Disabilities trains local IM4Q programs on the interview instrument, the Essential Data Elements (EDE).
• The local IM4Q programs assign interview teams to individuals randomly selected to be monitored.
• The collected data is sent to the Institute on Disabilities for analysis and the creation/distribution of reports.
• Each IM4Q Program has a "closing the loop" (follow-up) activity to ensure that specific issues are addressed.

For more information

Mary Kay R. Cunningham  
[click-for-email]
voice 215-204-1485