Commentary on “Promoting positive communication environments: A service evaluation”: The communication partnership as a focus for change

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to debate the complexities of intervening with adults with learning disabilities and support staff in the natural environment and challenges of evaluating change.

Design/methodology/approach: A critical review of the relevance and amenability of communication partnerships for interventions that promote communication growth in context was carried out. Particular consideration was given to the mechanism for change and implications for research design.

Findings: The communication partnership is a reasonable focus for interventions aiming to promote the communication of adults with learning disabilities. Combining instructional training with in situ coaching appears to provide the most effective approach. Bringing about change within the dynamic context of communication is challenging and may benefit from an open, investigative design.

Originality/value: This paper synthesises the available evidence on intervening in the communication environment and debates the potential of realist evaluation as a context-focused research design.