CHANGE IN CARE STAFFS ATTITUDES TOWARDS PEOPLE WITH LEARNING-DISABILITIES FOLLOWING INTERVENTION AT THE LEROS PIKPA ASYLUM

The pilot intervention project at Leros PIKPA asylum sought to change the management of residents by decreasing care staff's tendency to vie w people with learning disabilities with attitudes of custodial segreg ation (e.g. ''they should all live in institutions'') and categorisati on (e.g. ''they are all alike''). To that end, staff were trained on t he job in resident management and participated in seminars, sensitisat ion groups, clinical case presentations and visits to model rehabilita tion units. To investigate whether staff attitudes towards people with learning disabilities had been influenced, staff members responded to a questionnaire of such attitudes, in March 1991 (initial assessment) and a year later (reassessment). Factor analyses of attitude ratings at initial assessment revealed a strong negative attitudinal construct , ''Rejective and custodial segregation'' - Categorisation'', accordin g to which institutionalisation was the only appropriate type of care for people with learning disabilities, regardless of individual differ ences. At reassessment, however, this factor had split into two indepe ndent ones, ''Rejective and custodial segregation'' and ''Categorisati on'', suggesting that the staff had understood that custodial care did not apply to all persons with learning disabilities indiscriminately. Reassessment factors further indicated that staff had comprehended th e appropriateness of alternative care forms - community and home care. Analysis of Categorisation and Custodial segregation attitude ratings showed that only staff's tendency to view the disabled as ''all alike '' (Categorisation) had decreased at reassessment. The latter change a nd the structural change revealed by the factor analyses imply that st aff's attitudes underwent a small but significant modification.