Staff Perspectives of Precipitants to Aggressive Behavior of Adolescents in Residential Treatment Facilities

• NCJ Number: 224902
• Journal: Residential Treatment for Children & Youth Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 85-101
• Author(s): Susan dosReis Ph.D.; Sarah Davarya B.S.
• Date Published: September 2008
• Length: 17 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Maryland Mental Hygiene Admin
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In focusing on Maryland’s seclusion and restraint reduction initiative and attempting to identify areas where Maryland’s Systematic Training Approach for Refining Treatment (START) program could have the most impact on behavior change and early identification and prevention of aggression, this study’s primary objective was to explore staff’s views of the precipitants of aggressive behavior that result in seclusion and restraint use.

Abstract

The findings provide a foundation from which to enhance Maryland’s Systematic Training Approach for Refining Treatment (START) program. The data offers new insight in to staff members’ perspectives about aggressive behavior and the means to avoid challenging situations that can be applied to training, allowing for a more tailored training. In the study, clinical and line staff attributed aggressive behavior to psychological impairment. However, some felt school personnel viewed it as deviant behavior, willful, and within the individual’s control. The staff participants also varied in their confidence level and comfort in dealing with aggressive adolescents. The SMART program was developed to reduce seclusion and restraint use and consisted of six training components. This paper is the third in a series of articles about the Maryland seclusion and restraint reduction initiative. The motivation for the study was to identify areas where the START program could have the most impact on behavior change and early identification and prevention of aggression. This study explored staff’s personal experiences with challenging and aggressive behaviors. Face-to-face, semistructured interviews with 18 staff in a public psychiatric adolescent residential treatment facility were conducted to obtain an inductive approach to their understanding of what leads to aggressive behavior among adolescents. Figure and references