The effect of peer-to-peer training on staff interactions with adults with dual diagnoses.
Your own staff can train each other to boost positive interactions—use BST (instruction, model, practice, feedback) and watch interactions rise.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Matson et al. (2009) set up a peer-to-peer BST program in an adult day hab. Staff taught each other using the four usual steps: explain, show, practice, give feedback.
They tracked how often workers gave friendly prompts, praise, or help to adults who had both developmental and mental-health needs.
What they found
Positive staff interactions went up after the peer training. The gains held while the researchers kept watching.
The study used a multiple-baseline design across workers, so the effect showed only when each worker’s turn began.
How this fits with other research
Gormley et al. (2019) later ran a bigger cluster-RCT with 104 staff and also saw clear knowledge and skill gains, proving the idea works at scale.
Staddon (2013) swapped outside experts for peer observers and still pushed DTT fidelity from about 40 % to 85 %. The peer-to-peer method itself, not the trainer’s title, drives the change.
Bhaumik et al. (2008) did a six-session BST package in Hong Kong one year earlier and got similar attitude and skill boosts, so the story is not limited to U.S. sites.
Why it matters
You can stop flying in costly outside trainers. Pick your best staff, give them a simple BST script, and let them coach the team. Start with one pair, measure baseline interactions for a week, run the BST cycle, and watch the graphs climb. If it works, roll it to the next pair. You save money and build an in-house culture of feedback that keeps itself alive.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Researchers have demonstrated the importance of training behavioral skills to staff members working with consumers with developmental disabilities. A training program that does not rely solely on consultants or administrators may benefit human services agencies that have limited resources to allocate to training. In the present study, the experimenters used a multiple-baseline-across-participants-experimental design to assess the effectiveness of a peer-to-peer staff-training program. The experimenters used instruction, modeling, practice, and feedback to teach habilitation specialists to train their co-workers to interact frequently and positively with adults with psychiatric disorders and developmental disabilities in a day habilitation setting. All trainees increased interactions and/or positive statements as a function of the training program.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2009 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2007.11.004