ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00158.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis paper examines the literature relating to stress in staff who care for people with learning disabilities. The majority of published studies have considered stress in residential staff. When assessing the studies, it soon becomes apparent that there is considerable variability between them in terms of methodology and results. However, the main reason for the range of results probably represent differences in organisational structure of the services surveyed. Despite this variability some simple general trends emerge which suggest that potential stressors and supports vary depending upon their proximity within the organisational structure. Models are presented on how these inter‐relationships might be considere

ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00159.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis study reports the development of die Shortened Ways of Coping (Revised) Questionnaire (SWC‐R), a measure of staff coping strategies designed to be easily administered and scored in work settings. The 14‐item self‐report measure is scored into two subscales, Practical Coping and Wishful Thinking, representing distinct Ways of Coping. The reliability of the SWC‐R was evaluated by administering questionnaires containing the SWC‐R to 181 direct care staff in four learning disability services and, in an attempt to explore issues of validity, measures of social desirability, distress, overall job satisfaction, overall life satisfaction, and propensity to leave the organisation. A subset of 30 staff completed the questionnaire twice over a 16‐month period, enabling some exploration of test‐retest reliability and predictive validity. Both subscales show adequate psychometric properties in terms of alpha reliabilities, inter‐item correlations, inter‐scale correlations, and test‐retest reliabilities. While the Wishful Thinking subscale is prone to a social desirability bias, exclusion of such a measure from analyses does not seem to lead to false positive errors. The Wishful Thinking subscale shows a reliable positive association with distress (even over a 16‐month period) and some negative associations with overall life satisfaction, but the Practical Coping sub‐scale is associated with none of the outcome measures used in the study. The further use of the SWC‐R in research concerning direct care staff in huma

ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00160.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractSelf‐reported stressors, coping strategies and stress‐related outcomes were explored among 68 direct‐care staff working in two networks of small staffed houses for people with learning disabilities. The two networks tended to have lower rates of staff turnover, and staff tended to be older, more qualified and more likely to have dependants, than staff in UK community services reported in previous studies. Staff in Network 2 rated several stressors as more stressful and reported themselves as experiencing greater general distress and work‐related stress, than staff in Network 1. Multiple regressions revealed that: (1) stressors relating to the emotional impact of the work, violent service user behaviour and the use of a wishful thinking coping strategy were associated with perceived work stress; (2) stressors relating to the conflict of work with personal or family demands, and the use of a wishful thinking coping strategy, were associated with symptoms of general distress; (3) perceived work stress, together with uncertainty concerning job tasks and limited opportunities for personal advancement, were perceived to have a high impact

ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00161.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThe behaviour of 16 residents with severe intellectual disabilities and severely challenging behaviour and the interactions they received from staff were observed. Eight people lived in traditional hospitals and eight in community settings. The two groups were individually matched by adaptive ability. Differences in the occurrence of various categories of staff/resident interaction and resident activity between die two groups were not statistically significant. There was some indication that interaction and engagement in activity were improved in those community settings which were genuinely small and based on ordinary housing. However, a more striking finding for all residents was their lack of constructive occupation and the low level of assistance given by staff to help individuals participate more. Although generally responsive to the social overtures of residents, staff were otherwise not found to have an evident focus on encouraging resident engagement in activity. Two case studies are presented which, with other recent research, point to the impact which the content and focus of staff attention can have on resident activity patterns. Comparison to research on people with less severe challenging behaviour supports the contention that individuals with the most severe challenging behaviours tend to lead more impoverished lives.

ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00162.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractStaff beliefs about challenging behaviours, and their perception of their working environment, are important for two main reasons. Firstly, the manner in which staff define challenging behaviour affects who is labelled as a challenge, and who is referred to specialist services. Secondly, staff views of their working environment may help us to understand why staff interact with people with learning disabilities in the apparently counter‐habilitative ways outlined in previous reasearch. These issues were investigated in a systematic semi‐structured interview of 19 care staff. The interview covered staff definitions of challenging behaviour, the reasons for its occurrence, and strategies for its amelioration; their views on training and behavioural programmes; and their reported emotional responses to challenging behaviour. Content analysis of the interview transcripts revealed several patterns that may help in generating an account of staff behaviour. For example, staff's beliefs about the causes of challenging behaviour were partially congruent with those of psychological analyses, but their reported interventions for challenging behaviour could not be characterised as ‘functional’ strategies. Staff reports also revealed some of the factors in the service environment that may explain why they respond ‘inappropriately’ to challenging behaviour in the short term. These included: an emphasis in staff training on techniques for managing behaviour rather than understanding it, the (possibly resulting) belief that challenging behaviour is to be controlled, and the aversive nature of challenging behaviours. These findings, and their implications for research and practice, ar

ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00163.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis study investigated staff attitudes towards individuals with learning disabilities and AIDS in combination with staff attitudes towards client sexuality. Two hundred and forty‐six respondents (55% of those invited to participate) from one organisation in Scotland voluntarily and anonymously returned the nine‐item Staff Attitudes Towards persons with Learning Disabilities and AIDS (LDAIDS) scale (Murray&Minnes, 1994b) and the Sexuality and Persons with Learning Disabilities Attitude Inventory (SPLDAI; Brantlinger, 1983; Murray&Minnes 1994a). Results indicated that staff held moderately positive attitudes towards individuals with a learning disability and AIDS. Regression analysis showed that while controlling for staff demographic and contact variables, attitudes towards client sexuality (SPLDAI) predicted 22% of the variance in scores of attitudes towards clients with learning disabilities and AIDS., Forty‐four percent of participants employed in a direct residential care capacity agreed with mandatory testing of clients for HIV infection. The implications of these findings are discussed with relevance to issues raised by Cambridge (1994) who explored the informed consent/mandatory testing issue. Directions for future research and limitations of the study are also disc

ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00164.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00165.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0952-9608    

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3148.1995.tb00166.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY