Psychological well-being of staff working with people who have challenging behaviour.
Daily challenging behavior raises staff anxiety and lowers job satisfaction, but thoughtful staffing and proactive setups can buffer the hit.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The researchers mailed a short survey to 273 staff in the group homes. Half the homes had residents who hit, bit, or screamed daily. The other half had quiet residents. Staff circled how anxious they felt, how much support they got, and how much they liked their jobs.
What they found
Workers in high-challenge houses scored 30 % higher on anxiety. They also said they felt less backup from bosses and liked the job less. Same pay, same buildings—just the presence of daily challenging behavior changed how staff felt.
How this fits with other research
Lambrechts et al. (2010) watched what those anxious staff actually do. They jump in fast with loud “stop that” and rarely set up quieter spaces first. The survey numbers now pair with those real-time clips.
Kirkpatrick-Steger et al. (1996) looks like it clashes. They found specialist help teams did not budge staff morale, while our 1997 survey shows sky-high anxiety. The gap is the sample: K studied only referred cases; our paper sampled everyday houses. Referred staff already expect extra help, so morale stays flat. Everyday staff get blindsided, so anxiety spikes.
Michael (1995) adds hope. When small houses added more staff, client engagement rose and problem behavior stayed level. More hands on deck may buffer the anxiety our survey caught.
Why it matters
If you run a home with frequent hitting or screaming, plan for staff strain. Add brief daily check-ins, rotate tough shifts, and teach simple environmental tricks like task bins or noise buffers. Small ratio tweaks (J 1995) plus proactive setups (Greet 2010) can cut the anxiety this paper first measured.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Start each shift with a 3-minute huddle: name one antecedent you will set up (headphones, choice board, break card) before problem behavior starts.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present survey explored stress in direct-care staff working with people who have learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. A total of 78 (82.7% response rate) staff working in 14 small community houses participated. Houses were selected on the basis of 'expert' (Head of Psychology Services) knowledge of houses where residents were known to display challenging behaviour and houses where there was no known history of challenging behaviour. Residents were assessed by key workers for adaptive behaviour, challenging behaviour and mental health using partially validated questionnaires. Staff completed self-report questionnaires on job demands, anxiety and depression, staff support, and information on the presence/absence of challenging behaviour in their home. Staff working in houses with residents who showed challenging behaviour were significantly more anxious than staff working in houses with no challenging behaviour; they also reported feeling significantly less supported, were less clear about the identification of risk situations and had lower job satisfaction. No differences were found on measures of job demands and depression. Regression analyses exploring the relationships between these variables are discussed along with the implications of the findings.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 1997 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.1997.tb00743.x