Evaluation of the Advocacy Training Package on Self-Advocacy Letter Writing Skills in Adults With Disabilities

Abstract

Self-advocacy skills are critical for empowering people with disabilities to assert their rights, and letter writing remains a foundational format for formal advocacy. Despite its importance, few interventions have focused on teaching letter-writing skills, and no empirical evaluations have been published in over two decades. This study evaluated the advocacy training package (ATP), a self-administered tool designed to teach self-advocacy letter writing, and examined the generalization of skills to email and phone communication. Five adults with disabilities participated in a multiple baseline across participants design study. The intervention included self-paced training with the ATP and, for four participants, supplemental feedback sessions. Outcomes included letter writing, email advocacy, phone call role-plays, and follow-up assessments. All participants improved their advocacy letter-writing skills posttraining, with one reaching mastery following the self-paced training and four requiring feedback to meet mastery criteria. Generalization probes indicated moderate improvements in email and phone call advocacy skills. Skills were maintained at follow-up. Participants’ personal advocacy efforts led to tangible changes, supporting the training’s social validity. The ATP training effectively enhanced self-advocacy skills among adults with various disabilities and promoted tangible personal and community changes.