Survey Participation

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) is completing National Core Indicators (NCI) surveys with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to learn about the home and community based services (HCBS) they receive and use in Virginia. The DBHDS wants to know about people’s experiences and their quality of life.

Virginia has participated in NCI-IDD since 2013. Each year, 800 adults with IDD across the state of Virginia who use services through the Community Living (CL), the Family and Individual Support (FIS), and the Building Independence (BI) Waivers are randomly selected to participate in the surveys.

Survey responses help Virginia learn how it is doing compared to other states.
Survey responses help Virginia see what they are doing well and what they can improve.

There are two main types of NCI-IDD surveys used in Virginia:

Adult In-Person Survey
Family Surveys

Adult In-Person Survey

The Adult In-Person Survey is for a person who is 18 years or older and who uses services through one of the HCBS waivers. All surveys are completed using HIPAA compliant video conferencing (Zoom).

If someone is selected to participate in the Adult In-Person Survey here is what will happen:

The participant (and legal guardian) will receive a letter in the mail letting them know that they have been selected to participate in NCI.
An interviewer from the Partnership for People with Disabilities will call the participant or legal guardian to schedule a time to meet that is most convenient for the participant.
The interviewer will provide details about what technology is needed to complete the interview.
The participant may have someone with them during the interview.
On the scheduled date, the interviewer will meet the participant, using HIPAA compliant Zoom, and ask questions about the services they use.
If the participant does not want to take part in the survey, they may tell the interviewer when they call.

Family Surveys

There are three family surveys used in Virginia:

Adult Family Survey
Family Guardian Survey
Child Family Survey

A family survey is sent to families of children, youth, and adults who use supports and services funded through Medicaid, state and local resources.

The family survey will be mailed through the US Postal Service along with a pre-paid self-addressed return envelope.

A family member completes the survey and returns it by the date indicated.

Adult Family Survey	Family Guardian Survey	Child Family Survey
The Adult Family Survey is completed by families who have an adult family member with IDD over the age of 18 who lives with them.	The Family Guardian Survey is completed by families who have an adult family member with IDD over the age of 18 that does not live at the same address as the survey respondent.	The Child Family Survey is completed by families of a child with IDD under the age of 18 who lives with them.