What does a direct support associate do?
Direct Support Associates are responsible for aiding individuals with developmental, mental, or physical disabilities in their daily living activities. Their duties include administering prescribed medications, coach patients to develop money management, housekeeping, and social skills, and provide feedback to patients in areas of improvement. They are also involved in supervising skills-building activities, meal preparations, schedule organization, and produces patient progress report. Direct Support Associates also maintain a supportive relationship with the client to foster social engagement and community inclusion.
Direct support associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real direct support associate resumes:
- Assist patients with ADL's, while individualizing patient care, and allowing patients to be as independent as possible.
- Assist individuals with ADL's such as grooming, toileting, feeding, and escorting on community outings.
- Assist clients with everyday living task/skills, transportation into the community, developmental skills, ISP, medication administration.
- Provide caring and companionship to elderly and developmentally disable consumers and provide primary resident care and assistance with daily living activities.
- Facilitate exercise, vocational, arts-n-crafts, and daily living skills groups for consumers with DD.
Direct support associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Direct Support Associates are proficient in Intellectual Disabilities, Emotional Support, and Developmental Disabilities. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Integrity, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Direct Support Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Intellectual Disabilities, 19%
Supervised and trained individuals diagnosed with mental illness and intellectual disabilities on independent living skills by use of behavior objectives.
- Emotional Support, 18%
Provided health, safety and emotional support of daily living for intellectually challenged individuals served at a nonprofit organization.
- Developmental Disabilities, 15%
Work with individuals with moderate mental retardation and developmental disabilities and support them with tasks of independent living.
- Administer Medications, 4%
Complete medical appointments, administer medications, and appointments.
- Autism, 4%
Provided supervision of persons diagnosed with Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, brain injuries, and other developmental disorders.
- Group Homes, 4%
Provide direct support to disabled individuals living in group homes in an effort for them to live with more independence.
Common skills that a direct support associate uses to do their job include "intellectual disabilities," "emotional support," and "developmental disabilities." You can find details on the most important direct support associate responsibilities below.
Detail oriented. The most essential soft skill for a direct support associate to carry out their responsibilities is detail oriented. This skill is important for the role because "home health aides and personal care aides must adhere to specific rules and protocols and carefully follow instructions to help take care of clients." Additionally, a direct support associate resume shows how their duties depend on detail oriented: "support individuals with developmental disabilities achieve goals, as detailed by their person-centered-plan. "
Integrity. Another essential skill to perform direct support associate duties is integrity. Direct support associates responsibilities require that "home health aides and personal care aides should make clients feel comfortable when they tend to personal activities, such as helping a client bathe." Direct support associates also use integrity in their role according to a real resume snippet: "received an arrm cares nomination award for professional integrity and providing exemplary care and service to people with developmental disabilities. "
Interpersonal skills. direct support associates are also known for interpersonal skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to direct support associate responsibilities, because "home health aides and personal care aides must work closely with clients." A direct support associate resume example shows how interpersonal skills is used in the workplace: "assist consumers in meal preparation to include cooking, , role modeling appropriate interpersonal and social behaviors at mealtime. "
Physical stamina. For certain direct support associate responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "physical stamina." The day-to-day duties of a direct support associate rely on this skill, as "home health aides and personal care aides should be comfortable performing physical tasks." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what direct support associates do: "provide physical support to assist residents with daily living. "
The three companies that hire the most direct support associates are:
- Evergreen Life Product Srl33 direct support associates jobs
- The Mosaic Company22 direct support associates jobs
- Texas7 direct support associates jobs
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Compare different direct support associates
Direct support associate vs. Attending, ambulatory care
An attending, ambulatory care is responsible for providing patient care, supporting ongoing treatment of health issues, and managing recovery through coordinating with attending physicians or other medical professionals. They evaluate medical records, including history and consultation purposes, develop a necessary care plan, keep an accurate medical chart, and schedule laboratory tests and follow-up as needed. An attending, ambulatory care must have extensive knowledge of the medical principles and disciplines to monitor the patients' condition and observe medical measures.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between direct support associates and attending, ambulatory care. For instance, direct support associate responsibilities require skills such as "intellectual disabilities," "autism," "group homes," and "restraints." Whereas a attending, ambulatory care is skilled in "patients," "customer service," "quality care," and "good judgment." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Attendings, ambulatory care earn the highest salaries when working in the government industry, with an average yearly salary of $30,236. On the other hand, direct support associates are paid more in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $33,034.On average, attendings, ambulatory care reach similar levels of education than direct support associates. Attendings, ambulatory care are 0.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Direct support associate vs. Companion
A companion is responsible for assisting sick and recovered patients, as well as the elderly. Companions perform housekeeping duties, ensuring that a facility is well-maintained and safe for the use of the patients. They also monitor the patients' medication, prepare their meals based on a medical professional's prescription, support them on their daily activities, respond to the patients' needs and special requests as allowed, and report any developments to their family or guardians. A companion must be compassionate enough to extend physical and emotional support, depending on the client's condition.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that direct support associate responsibilities requires skills like "intellectual disabilities," "administer medications," "autism," and "group homes." But a companion might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "companionship," "patients," "home health," and "run errands."
Companions earn a lower average salary than direct support associates. But companions earn the highest pay in the non profits industry, with an average salary of $30,973. Additionally, direct support associates earn the highest salaries in the manufacturing with average pay of $33,034 annually.In general, companions achieve similar levels of education than direct support associates. They're 0.5% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Direct support associate vs. Provider
Health care providers are health professionals and health organizations offering health care treatment and diagnosis services. These professionals play significant roles with patients through consultation, treatment, and advice. The health care they provide is of different variations. They even perform other procedures depending on the needs of the patients. Their responsibilities include comprehensive care and specialist work. Also, they help in duties, medication, and housekeeping. They transport clients to and from errands, activities, and appointments.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from direct support associate resumes include skills like "intellectual disabilities," "administer medications," "autism," and "group homes," whereas a provider is more likely to list skills in "patients," "healthcare," "mental health," and "customer service. "
Providers earn the highest salary when working in the health care industry, where they receive an average salary of $55,214. Comparatively, direct support associates have the highest earning potential in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $33,034.Most providers achieve a similar degree level compared to direct support associates. For example, they're 4.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Direct support associate vs. Residential program worker
Even though a few skill sets overlap between direct support associates and residential program workers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a direct support associate might have more use for skills like "administer medications," "autism," "cleanliness," and "restraints." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of residential program workers require skills like "patients," "mental health," "direct care," and "adaptive. "
The health care industry tends to pay the highest salaries for residential program workers, with average annual pay of $28,780. Comparatively, the highest direct support associate annual salary comes from the manufacturing industry.In general, residential program workers hold similar degree levels compared to direct support associates. Residential program workers are 0.8% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of direct support associate
Updated January 8, 2025
