Frontline Staff Working Research Articles

Impact of Mental Health Training for Frontline Staff Working With Children With Severe Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract The risk factors for young people with intellectual disabilities developing a mental health disorder are higher than those found in the general population, yet training is very rarely available to frontline staff. A recent study in the United Kingdom cited prevalence rates of mental ill health among adults with intellectual disabilities ranging from 35.2 to 40.9%, depending upon the sensitivity of the diagnostic tool used (Cooper et al., 2007). The ability to identify mental health problems is crucial to early intervention, but is particularly difficult when the symptoms of intellectual disability often mask emerging problems and confound differential diagnosis. The literature relating to mental health training focuses largely on changes in knowledge base and attitude, falling short of considering the primary focus of training—its impact upon practice and how this ultimately benefits people with intellectual disabilities. This study highlights the need for training, considers a training package provided to all frontline (direct care) staff in a residential school in the United Kingdom, catering to young people between the ages of 6 and 19 with severe intellectual disabilities, and investigates the impact of training upon practice and its influence upon the organization.

Person-job match among frontline staff working in residential treatment centers: The impact of personality and child psychopathology on burnout experiences.

Prior research has shown that the personality variables extraversion and neuroticism predict burnout among frontline staff working in residential treatment centers. This study tested the hypothesis that the effect of personality on burnout would be moderated by the psychiatric characteristics of the youth served on the milieu. Two hundred and three frontline staff working in 21 residential treatment centers in Illinois serving troubled youth completed surveys regarding opinions about their jobs, the Big Five Inventory (BFI), a youth presenting problems scale for the entire milieu, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Results indicated that the effect of neuroticism on burnout is moderated by psychosis and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); high and moderate milieu ratings of psychosis and PTSD showed a positive relationship between neurosis and burnout, while low ratings of these conditions showed no relationship. These findings suggest that the optimal work setting is a function of the interaction between specific personality characteristics and specific work environments, with implications for personnel selection and future research on person-environment fit.

Accommodating health and social care needs: routine resource allocation in stroke rehabilitation.

This paper explores routine resource allocation processes in health and social care. While there has been a small body of work which has drawn on Lipsky's (1980) insights into street level bureaucracy, few have taken seriously the opportunity offered by ethnography to explore in detail the work of front-line staff as a way of observing policy processes in action. Utilising ethnographic data from research into the continuing care of adults who had suffered a first acute stroke, we analyse how staff accommodated patient need and consider the implications that this had for the quality, equality and equity of service provision.

Book review

This is a very useful book that looks at what practitioners can do to make sense of behaviours in order to support the people they work with more effectively. The preface suggests that it is written for frontline staff working in ‘ordinary’ settings and in general, I think it tailors its contents well to these individuals. However, it may also be useful for other practitioners, particularly at the start of professional training. While written for people working with individuals with a developmental disability, I believe that it may have additional use for people working with other client groups.

Book review

This is a very useful book that looks at what practitioners can do to make sense of behaviours in order to support the people they work with more effectively. The preface suggests that it is written for frontline staff working in ‘ordinary’ settings and in general, I think it tailors its contents well to these individuals. However, it may also be useful for other practitioners, particularly at the start of professional training. While written for people working with individuals with a developmental disability, I believe that it may have additional use for people working with other client groups.

People: hearts and minds. The City of Mississauga, Canada

The City of Mississauga is located on the western boundary of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Ontario, Canada. As a municipality it is undergoing rapid urban growth, pressure from citizens to keep the taxes down, political pressure to reorganize the surrounding municipal areas, rapidly changing technology, increasing competition for economic development and increasing demands for high level services from its citizens. This article will indicate how, in the face of the challenging demands of the '90s, the city is making a significant shift in the ‘culture’ of the organization. The City is moving from a traditional style of management emphasizing control to one that stresses leadership and empowerment of the workforce. It involves changing from a hierarchical bureaucracy to an organization that is more flexible, responsive, innovative and creative with a strong customer focus. To meet the demands of this shifting culture there needs to be a highly skilled workforce. There are a number of initiatives in the City to accomplish this ‘cultural shift’. This article deals with the continuous learning aspect called Capability Development, focusing on Team Effectiveness, Continuous Improvement and Customer Service. We developed two phases for the learning. Capability Development Phase I outlined the concepts and tools for managers at all levels to be able to support the learning required to accomplish the ‘cultural shift’. Phase I included the City Strategic Plan, Management Strategy and Human Resources Vision and practical management tools. Phase II was designed for front line staff working in their ‘intact teams’. It incorporates the concepts and tools from Phase I and is being delivered by trained volunteer facilitators within the City. We will discuss the process, the results and learnings we have discovered on our journey.