Staff factors associated with perception of behaviour as 'challenging' in residential and nursing homes

Moniz-Cook, E.; Woods, R.; Gardiner, E.

Abstract

Opening paragraph:
The extensive literature on stress and caregiving in dementia focused, until the mid-1990s, on the experiences of family carers. Since then, studies in North America have suggested that the factors that contribute to stress and burnout in staff working in residential and day care settings include the shift (Novak & Chappell, 1996), working conditions (Wilber & Specht, 1994), social support (Chappell & Novak, 1992), staff appraisal (Novak & Chappell, 1994) and uncooperative or difficult behaviour (Chappell & Novak, 1994). In the UK, staff stress and/or burnout have been linked with resident aggression (MacPherson et al., 1994), organisational aspects of the work setting (Baillon et al., 1996) and the quality of staff interactions with the residents that they care for (Jenkins & Allen, 1998). The contribution of difficult, uncooperative or aggressive resident behaviour to staff distress parallels the family caregiving literature, where some studies argue strongly that behaviour disturbance or ‘non-cognitive features’, which we refer to as ‘challenging behaviour’, predict carer stress (see, for example, Donaldson et al., 1998). However, the relationship between resident behaviour and staff distress is complex, since the majority of difficult and uncooperative behaviour is predictable, not necessarily intrinsic to the resident, appears to occur during a self-care activity such as dressing or bathing (Beck et al., 1990; Burgener et al., 1992) and can be minimised if the caregiver remains relaxed and smiling (Burgener et al., 1992). Of perhaps more interest is the observation that problematic behaviour in a given resident is often perceived differently by different staff and its impact on different staff can also differ widely (Everitt et al., 1991). The emerging opinion is that the training of care staff is important (Baillon et al., 1996) and should be aimed at helping them work with residents (Chappell & Novak, 1994) or at altering their appraisal of the residents’ behaviour (Novak & Chappell, 1994).

Citation

Moniz-Cook, E., Woods, R., & Gardiner, E. (2009). Staff factors associated with perception of behaviour as 'challenging' in residential and nursing homes. In M. Orrell, & A. Spector (Eds.), Psychology of Aging (237-244). Farnham: Ashgate

• Online Publication Date: Mar 2, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 16, 2009
• Deposit Date: Mar 25, 2023
• Publisher: Ashgate
• Pages: 237-244
• Series Title: The International Library of Psychology
• Book Title: Psychology of Aging
• Chapter Number: 19
• ISBN: 9781351907859; 9780754627890
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4249222
• Publisher URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315245706/psychology-aging-martin-orrell-aimee-spector
• Additional Information: Originally published as a journal article in Aging & Mental Health, v.4, 2000, pp.48-55