The quality of provision for people with a learning disability is directly impacted by the psychological wellbeing and burnout levels of staff who provide support for them, according to new research.
The study published in the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities was a systematic review of all studies involving staff working with people with intellectual disabilities (learning disabilities) that used the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Version (MBI-HS).
It further confirmed that the demands of caring may have a detrimental effect on staff psychological wellbeing, with this relationship frequently examined through the lens of burnout. However, general exposure to challenging behaviours, including the frequency of exposure and type of support provided, was shown to be unrelated to burnout among staff.
One study in the analysis found that the influence of behaviours that challenge on emotional exhaustion of staff is fully mediated by fear of assault and suggested that if reported fear of assault can be reduced, staff will experience less emotional exhaustion.
Previous research has shown that the demands of caring make a state of good psychological well-being essential for optimal quality of care. Furthermore, staff who are in a good psychological state are less likely to be absent or to leave their employment, thus positively influencing the continuity of care.
The authors concluded that given the critical relationship between the psychological wellbeing of direct support staff and the quality of care they provide, a robust and focussed future research strategy is called for to establish the ongoing state of work-based psychological wellbeing in this population and to more clearly understand those factors that both challenge and enhance wellbeing.
They recommended a ‘National Observatory’ approach to enable regular monitoring of staff wellbeing and exploration of influencing variables.
“This would enable a consistent and systematic approach to investigating relationships between critical staff, service setting, client variables, and staff wellbeing. Many larger services currently routinely audit the state of staff wellbeing. The role of the national observatory could be to standardise, coordinate and synthesise these data sets,” the authors added.
