Increasing the efficiency of program status reporting by residential direct care staff.

Abstract

In large residential treatment centers for adolescent youth, program administrators and clinical staff rely on the information imparted to them by direct care staff to make appropriate decisions regarding administrative and clinical support functions so that the residents in care can receive the best treatment possible. This study was designed to increase the efficiency of program status reporting by direct care residential staff in a large residential setting serving an average daily census of 95 youth residing in four distinct residential programs: including programs for sexually abusive adolescents, sexually reactive adolescents, adolescents with anger management problems, and a latency age children’s program. Staff were trained to implement a 13 item checklist specifying key information such as the number of critical incidents, physical holds, family contacts, completion of scheduled unit activities and completion of required documentation at the end of each residential shift. Direct care staff were trained to implement the status report protocol using a staff management package including antecedent procedures consisting of instructions, role-playing and feedback on the use of the reporting protocol and consequent procedures comprised of written and verbal feedback provided by a supervisor to staff on a weekly basis. The feedback given to direct care staff consisted of the percentage of items they reported correctly from the 13-item status reporting protocol. The staff management intervention package was assessed employing a multiple baseline design across the four programs. Reliability data were collected on an average of 58% of the reports given by staff during baseline and intervention. The data indicated that the staff management package was successful in increasing the efficiency of program status reporting by direct care staff.