Staff-staff and staff-resident verbal interactions in a community based group home for people with moderate and severe mental handicaps

Verbal interactions involving direct care staff in a group home for people with moderate and severe mental handicaps were observed. The total amount of interaction staff had with residents and with each other was compared. The existence of interaction under different configurations of staff and residents was also examined. Overall, the care staff were involved in interactions across 71.1 per cent of observed intervals. They were almost twice as likely to be involved in interactions to or from residents (47.3 per cent) than to or from other staff (25.9 per cent). However, when compared across different configurations, interactions with residents were less frequent when other staff were present, suggesting that interactions with staff were preferred. Examination of staff-staff interactions suggested that these were largely work-related, so to dismiss them as detrimental to people's work is premature. Ways in which staff-staff interaction may be important are discussed.