Pathways towards more positive staff-client interactions in services for persons with severe or profound intellectual disabilities

Positive staff-client interactions are an important indicator of quality of care and crucial in improving wellbeing and engagement of clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities. The quality of staff-client relations is compromised by the limited communicative abilities persons with severe or profound intellectual disabilities have to express their needs and wishes, and by the high workload and burden of direct support staff. The main aim of this project is to increase knowledge about patterns, determinants and dynamics of staff-client interactions for persons with severe or profound intellectual disabilities and to design, implement, and evaluate pathways towards more positive staff-client interactions. With a diary study, we will explore specific and dynamic patterns of associations between staff emotions, staff beliefs and staff interactive behaviors in daily staff-client interactions. Using questionnaires for direct support staff, we will study intrapersonal and environmental determinants of staff-client interactions, and the association of several dimensions of staff behavior with wellbeing and interactive behavior of persons with severe or profound intellectual disabilities. Finally an intervention study will be done to evaluate the effects of a person-centered intervention focused on the different determinants of staff-client interactions.

Keywords:staff client interactions, staff training, complex support needs, intellectual disability, staff behavior

Disciplines:Disabilities and developmental disorders, Care for disabled, Orthopedagogical interventions