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Stress inoculation training for direct contact staff working with mentally retarded persons
Author(s) -
Keyes Joseph B.,
Dean Sarah Frances
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
behavioral interventions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.605
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1099-078X
pISSN - 1072-0847
DOI - 10.1002/bin.2360030406
Subject(s) - intrapersonal communication , psychology , anger , intervention (counseling) , mentally retarded , stress management , training (meteorology) , clinical psychology , psychiatry , interpersonal communication , developmental psychology , social psychology , physics , meteorology
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 to 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 staff's 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.