Staff experiences working in community‐based services for people with learning disabilities who show behaviour described as challenging: The role of management support

Abstract

Accessible summary We looked at staff working with people with a learning disability and challenging behaviour. We tried to find out if managers' help their staff to work better. We looked at how often staff saw their manager and if their manager tried to help their staff to work better or spent more time doing office work. We found out that when managers helped staff to work better, staff feel better about their work. Even when staff did not see their manager very often, other staff were helping them to do their work better. Organisations need to decide who will help staff to work better, and this will also help staff to feel better about their work. AbstractIntroductionResearch has shown a positive relationship between practice leadership (frontline management focused upon supporting staff to work better) and better staff experiences of working with people with learning disabilities who may show challenging behaviours. However, little is known regarding the impact of frequency and accessibility of frontline managerial support upon staff experiences, or upon the provision of practice leadership. Current policy and practice in England may lead to frontline managers being responsible for more fragmented services, thus influencing the accessibility of managerial support and practice leadership for staff. The current study investigated the impact on staff experiences of frequency of contact with service manager and of practice leadership.MethodsA single point in time survey of 144 staff measured: characteristics of service users, frequency of contact with manager, practice leadership and staff experiences, for example burnout, teamwork and job satisfaction.ResultsPractice leadership was positively associated with more frequent contact with the manager. Better staff experiences were associated with more frequent contact with the manager and practice leadership and negatively with challenging behaviours.ConclusionThe associations between practice leadership, manager contact and better staff experiences suggest further research, and organisational action is needed to provide management support for staff.