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Service organisation, staff performance and client outcomes in services for people with learning disabilities

Elliott, Teresa (2004) Service organisation, staff performance and client outcomes in services for people with learning disabilities. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent. (doi:10.22024/UniKent/01.02.86287) (KAR id:86287)

Abstract

Research into direct-care staff performance in residential services for persons with a learning disability has led to a number of explanatory findings. Variables such as client ability, maladaptive behaviour, the employment status of staff, staff stress, facility size, staffing ratios, training and management strategies have all been found, by different authors, to variously affect levels of staff/client interaction. The influence of an informal social system within a residential service on staff behaviour has not, however, been fully examined. The aim of the study presented in this thesis was to uncover which features of a residential service, its organisation and delivery are responsible for levels of support offered by staff and also for the extent to which clients are engaged in activities. A wide range of variables including those previously found to be significant and others that represented the informal aspects of a service, such as the expectations of others, were included in the study. The main findings were that quality of care in the facilities studied was generally poor. Few significant differences were found between the provision of care offered by the two organisations included in the study although many were expected. Although staff responses revealed that the expectations of others in the workplace might have an influence over the ways in which they work with clients, multiple regression analysis did not find these informal variables to be significant. Only the adaptive behaviour of clients was found to be predictive of the levels of staff support offered. None of the variables included in the analysis was found to be predictive of the levels of client engagement found. The reasons for this are discussed and the proposition that staff behaviour in this study was perhaps contingent on arbitrary, haphazard and unpredictable circumstances was introduced.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD))
DOI/Identification number: 10.22024/UniKent/01.02.86287
Additional information: This thesis has been digitised by EThOS, the British Library digitisation service, for purposes of preservation and dissemination. It was uploaded to KAR on 09 February 2021 in order to hold its content and record within University of Kent systems. It is available Open Access using a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivatives (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) licence so that the thesis and its author, can benefit from opportunities for increased readership and citation. This was done in line with University of Kent policies (https://www.kent.ac.uk/is/strategy/docs/Kent%20Open%20Access%20policy.pdf). If you feel that your rights are compromised by open access to this thesis, or if you would like more information about its availability, please contact us at ResearchSupport@kent.ac.uk and we will seriously consider your claim under the terms of our Take-Down Policy (https://www.kent.ac.uk/is/regulations/library/kar-take-down-policy.html).
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
SWORD Depositor: SWORD Copy
Depositing User: SWORD Copy
Date Deposited: 29 Oct 2019 16:48 UTC
Last Modified: 15 Dec 2022 04:03 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/86287 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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