DEVELOPMENT OF THE ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES VOLUNTARY CONSENSUS GUIDELINES

The Administration for Community Living (ACL), seeking to ensure that the policies and practices of Adult Protective Services Programs (APS) are consistent nationwide, opened a process of public and stakeholder input on draft Voluntary Consensus Guidelines for State APS Systems in 2015. This draft was created by a working group of experts in the abuse, fraud, and neglect of vulnerable adults, and is intended to provide a framework for state APS jurisdictions when updating, refining, or clarifying current APS rules and laws. Seven domains of APS Practice were identified that informed the Guidelines project: Program Administration, Time Frames for Response, Reporting, Investigating, Interventions, Training, and Program Evaluation. ACL received public comment on the draft Guidelines in 2015 and convened listening sessions to invite stakeholder input. In order to incorporate stakeholder ideas effectively, ACL engaged a Health and Aging Policy Fellowship (HAPF) team, to provide a qualitative research analysis of the public comments on the draft Guidelines. This analysis will inform efforts to revise the guidelines based on the stakeholder input. The Guidelines in final form will provide consensus expert recommendations, best practices when identifiable, and information regarding evidence-based interventions. This session will provide an overview of the development of the guidelines, including the stakeholder engagement process. We will then discuss the qualitative research methods used to analyze the public comments by the HAPF team. Finally, we will conclude by sharing updates to the guidelines based on the results of the data analysis.