CHANGING CARE STAFF APPROACHES TO THE PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT OF AGGRESSIVE-BEHAVIOR IN A RESIDENTIAL-TREATMENT UNIT FOR PERSONS WITH MENTAL-RETARDATION AND CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR

The impact of a new training procedure aimed at improving staff skills in the preventative and reactive management of severely challenging b ehaviours was investigated within a six-place residential treatment un it. The results showed that there was some evidence to support the not ion that the training reduced the number of behavioural incidents for most residents. The rates of major reactive strategy use (restraint an d emergency medication) also declined over time, as did rates of staff and resident injury. Although only a limited number of these changes showed statistically significant correlations with time, it is argued that they were clinically significant when viewed against the complexi ty of the client group understudy. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.