Correlates of direct care staffs' attitudes towards aggression of persons with intellectual disabilities.
OBJECTIVE
To explain direct care staff's attitudes (responsive or rejecting) towards aggression of clients with intellectual disability (ID), data were collected about client characteristics as well as individual and team characteristics of 475 direct care staff members, working in 71 teams.


RESULTS
Multilevel analyses revealed that a positive team climate was positively associated with both a rejecting and responsive attitude towards aggression. Senior staff members and females showed a less responsive attitude towards aggression, whereas a relatively high percentage of females in a team and a positive attitude towards external professionals were associated with a more responsive attitude towards aggression. Unexpectedly, staff who experienced less verbal and/or physical aggressive incidents of their clients with ID showed a more rejecting attitude towards aggression. Finally, characteristics of the clients with ID accounted for the largest part of the variance in the attitude towards aggression of direct care staff, in particular psychiatric diagnoses.


CONCLUSIONS
Further research is necessary in order to understand how team processes affect the attitude towards aggression of direct care staff. Further it is recommended to provide direct care staff with knowledge about mental disorders in clients with ID.
De Twentse ZorgCentra, Den Alerdinck 2, 7608 CM Almelo, The Netherlands. Electronic address: maartje.knotter@detwentsezorgcentra.nl.
M H
MH
Knotter
University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
G J J M
GJJM
Stams
University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Hogeschool Zuyd, Nieuw Eyckholt 300, 6419 DJ Heerlen, The Netherlands.
X M H
XMH
Moonen
University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
I B
IB
Wissink
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D009426:Netherlands; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D055815:Young Adult
Attitude towards aggression; Attitude towards external professionals; Direct care staff; Intellectual disabilities; Team climate