Writing about stress: The impact of a stress-management programme on staff accounts of dealing with stress

Abstract

Background Helping staff serving clients with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour to cope with stress has implications for their own well-being and for the lives of those they support. Method This study examined staff members' views of stress and the effectiveness of a stress-management intervention. Effectiveness was assessed using written assignments regarding stress management, and changes in views presented were tested in a pre- and post-test control group design. Results In the first phase, a content analysis was conducted across groups, which revealed that participants expressed a broad variety of views about stress and coping mechanisms, with considerable individual differences. In the second phase, a more fine-grained quantitative analysis was conducted to assess training effectiveness. Results showed an increase in the proportion of coping strategies referred to by the experimental group post-training. This positive change remained at follow-up. Conclusions The results of the content analysis and the outcome data have implications for staff training.