The role of residential homelikeness in promoting community participation by adults with mental retardation.
A homelike house plus upbeat staff invites adults with ID into the community without extra programs.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Egli et al. (2002) watched adults with intellectual disability in group homes.
They rated how homelike each house felt and how upbeat the staff acted.
Then they counted how often staff invited residents to do things outside the home.
What they found
Homelike houses plus positive staff led to more staff invites.
More invites led to more trips into the community.
The house vibe, not extra money or vans, drove the change.
How this fits with other research
McMillan et al. (1999) already showed that training staff in active support lifts resident activity. Mark adds that even without new training, homelike décor and upbeat attitudes spark staff to reach out.
Qian et al. (2015) later measured staff competence and resident skills. They found both predict engagement, backing Mark’s link between staff behavior and resident participation.
Lalli et al. (1995) gave staff weekly feedback on resident outings and saw the same boost in community trips. Mark shows the same lift can come from a cozy living room and a smile, not just data sheets.
Why it matters
You can’t rebuild the house overnight, but you can soften it. Add throw pillows, family photos, and turn off harsh lights. Model upbeat greetings and ask, “Who wants coffee at the corner café?” These small moves start a chain: staff invite → resident joins → community sees them → more invites follow. Try one homelike tweak and one cheerful ask this week.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
We tested the influence of (1) the homelike appearance of residences, (2) residential staff-members' attitudes about people with mental retardation and (3) Client IQ on the number of activities adults clients with mental retardation conducted in their community. We tested the hypothesis these three variables exerted their influence by promoting positive staff-member interactions with clients. This was assessed by measuring the duration of Staff-initiated Social Interactions with residential clients. In our initial path model, Residential Homelikeness, Positive Staff Attitudes and Client IQ had no significant direct effect on Community Activities. In the final model, however, Residential Homelikeness and Positive Staff Attitudes exerted a statistically significant influence on Staff-initiated Social Interactions with clients, which in turn, exerted a statistically significant influence on Community Activities. This model illustrated: (1) the nearly equal influence of Staff Attitudes and architectural characteristics on Staff-initiated Interactions; and (2) the role of Staff-initiated Interactions in mediating the influence of Residential Homelikeness on community participation by adults with developmental disabilities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2002 · doi:10.1016/s0891-4222(02)00096-3