Factors associated with intended staff turnover and job search behaviour in services for people with intellectual disability.
Low satisfaction, high strain, and little control push ID staff to quit, but competency-based training and shared decision-making can turn the tide.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Chen et al. (2001) mailed a survey to 450 staff in intellectual-disability services.
They asked how happy workers were, how hard the job felt, and whether people planned to leave.
The team then ran stats to see which feelings best predicted quitting plans and real job hunting.
What they found
Workers who felt low satisfaction, high strain, or poor pay said they would quit soon.
Younger staff and those already looking at job ads were most likely to walk.
No single cause ruled; several small stresses stacked up.
How this fits with other research
Bogenschutz et al. (2015) moved past asking why and showed how to fix it. Their RCT gave DSPs competency-based BST and turnover dropped, proving training can reverse the pattern C et al. saw.
Blackman et al. (2025) repeated the same questions with BCBAs. Burnout still tops the list, so the drivers have stayed steady for 24 years even as the job title changed.
Kowalski et al. (2010) unpacked “job strain.” High workload plus little say in decisions burned people out, linking exhaustion to the same quit plans C et al. measured.
Why it matters
You can’t raise pay or lower caseload overnight, but you can add decision power and good BST. Start by letting staff choose session materials and giving quick competency checks. These cheap moves cut turnover in later trials and attack the strain this paper flagged.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Staff turnover is a major problem in services for people with intellectual disability (ID). Therefore, understanding the reasons for staff turnover is vital for organizations seeking to improve their performance. The present study investigates the factors directly and indirectly associated with an intention to leave an organization and actual job search behaviour amongst staff in services for people with ID. As part of a large-scale survey of staff in services for people with ID, information was collected from 450 staff concerning intended turnover, job search behaviour and a wide range of factors potentially associated with these outcomes. Path analyses revealed that work satisfaction, job strain, younger staff age and easier subjective labour conditions were directly associated with intended turnover. The same factors, with the exception of younger staff age, were also directly associated with job search behaviour. Factors indirectly associated with these outcomes included wishful thinking, alienative commitment to the organization, lack of staff support, role ambiguity, working longer contracted hours, having a low-status job, a lack of influence over decisions at work and less orientation to working in community settings with people with ID. The models of staff turnover empirically derived in the present study confirm and extend previous research in this area. The implications for organizations are discussed.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2001 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.2001.00321.x