Behavior management training in inpatient psychiatric rehabilitation: Impact on ward atmosphere, program operation and outcome

The purpose of the present research project was to explore the relative contributions of two characteristics of an inpatient psychiatric rehabilitation program, organization/philosophy and staff training, to program operation. Specifically this study examined the impact of a Behavior Management Inservice Training Program on staff attitudes, behavior and perceptions of the ward. The study was carried out in the context of a treatment/research program where ongoing data collection had been occurring for seven years. A previous study had found that staff attitudes and ward perceptions were influenced by program organizational and philosophical changes. The present study was an extension and an expansion of the previous study. The present study hypothesized that desirable changes in staff behavior can be brought about by inservice training in behavioral therapy skills. This study also examined the differential effects of the inservice training on individual staff members. The results of the study indicate that although training produced some further staff attitude and ward perception changes, the training did not produce desirable staff behavioral changes. It was also found that the response to the training program differs across staff groups and across individuals, and that individual responses can be predicted from initial staff characteristics