Stress inoculation training for direct contact staff working with mentally retarded persons
✍ Scribed by Joseph B. Keyes; Sarah Frances Dean
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1988
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 474 KB
- Volume
- 3
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1072-0847
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Direct contact staff must often function as crisis management agents when working with individuals who display agitated-disruptive behavior.
Staff training has focused predominantly on teaching staff specific techniques t o be implemented to de-escalate the client's agitation. Intrapersonal stress. that is. stress experienced by the staff persons as a result of the conflict situation, can be significant and interfere with staffs ability to systematically use the intervention techniques. Our data show effectiveness of stress inoculation training for the intrapersonal stress experienced by staff. Results indicate a decrease in scores on a self-report Anger Inventory. A workshop evaluation form completed following stress inoculation training showed that the training was positively rated by participants. A follow-up evaluation three months after training showed that 71% of the staff rated the training as useful in their work with clients. The frequency of the use of emergency restraint following the training was significantly reduced, as compared to use prior to training. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
It has been noted that, as a group, individuals with mental retardation exhibit more behavior problems and emotional disturbances than is observed in the general population (Matson & Frame, 1983). It is obvious, therefore, that professional and paraprofes-