Relationships with external professionals may be an important factor in the psychological wellbeing of care staff. A questionnaire to measure team climate and staff wellbeing was developed, tested and revised. Seventy-two direct care staff completed the revised questionnaire, which had acceptable levels of internal consistency. Significant correlations were found between care staff attitudes towards professionals and levels of team climate and psychological wellbeing.The pattern of relationships was explored by path analysis. Further work is needed on the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.There is a clear association between attitudes to professionals and team climate and between some aspects of climate and psychological wellbeing. Professionals should adopt collaborative ways of working based on problem-solving approaches with staff teams, with the aim of delivering improved quality of care to residents.
AJZEN, I. & FISHBEIN, M. (1980) Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behaviour. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall .
2.
ANDERSON, N. R. & WEST, M. A. (1994) The Team Climate Inventory,Manual and User's Guide. Windsor: NFER-Nelson .
3.
ANDERSON, N. R. & WEST, M. A. (1996) ‘The Team Climate Inventory:The Development of TCI and Its Applications in Teambuilding for Innovativeness’ , European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology5 (1): 53–66 .
4.
BLAIR, A. & COLLINS, G. (1992) ‘Staff Support Needs in Residential Services’ , Nursing Standard21 (1): 24–27 .
5.
BOWLING, A. (1991) Measuring Health:A Review of Quality of Life Measurement Scales. Milton Keynes: Open University Press .
6.
BROWNER, C. H. , ELLIS, K. A. , FORD, T. , SILSBY, J. T. & YEE, C. (1987) ‘Stress, Social Support and Health of Psychiatric Technicians in a State Facility’ , Mental Retardation25 (1): 31–38 .
7.
COHEN, J. (1988) Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioural Sciences, 2nd edn.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
8.
GOLDBERG, D. (1978) General Health Questionnaire,GHQ– 12. Oxford: NFER-Nelson .
9.
HARRIS, P. & ROSE, J. (2002) ‘Measuring Staff Support in Services for People with Learning Disability:The Staff Support and Satisfaction Questionnaire,Version 2’ , Journal of Intellectual Disability Research46 (2): 151–117 .
10.
HARRIS, P. & THOMSON, G. (1993) ‘The Staff Support Questionnaire’ , Mental Handicap21 (3): 122–117 .
11.
HASTINGS, R. P. (2002) ‘Do Challenging Behaviours Affect Staff Psychological Well-Being? Issues of Causality and Mechanism’ , American Journal on Mental Retardation107 (6): 455–467 .
12.
HATTON, C. & EMERSON, E. (1995) ‘The Development of Shortened Ways of Coping Questionnaire for Use with Direct Care Staff in Learning Disability Services’ , Mental Handicap8 (4): 237–251 .
13.
HATTON, C. , EMERSON, E. , RIVERS, M. , MASON, H. , MASON, L. , SWARBRICK, R. , KIERNAN, C. , REEVES, D. & ALBORZ, A. (1999) ‘Factors Associated with Staff Stress and Work Satisfaction in Services for People with Intellectual Disability’ , Journal of Intellectual Disability Research43 (4): 253–267 .
14.
HATTON, C. , ROSE, J. & ROSE, D. (2004) ‘Researching Staff’, in E. EMERSON , C. HATTON , T. PARMENTER & T. THOMPSON (eds) Handbook of Methods for Research and Evaluation in Intellectual Disabilities. Chichester:Wiley .
15.
HILL-TOUT, J. (2005) ‘Inside Out:The Perils and Pleasures of Internal Consultancy’ , Clinical Psychology Forum154: 31–34 .
16.
HUFFINGTON, C. , COLE, C. & BRUNNING, H. (1997) A Manual of Organisational Development. London: Karnac .
17.
JENKINS, R. , ROSE, J. & LOVELL, C. (1997) ‘Staff Stress and Challenging Behaviour’ , Journal of Intellectual Disability Research41 (6): 502–511 .
18.
LAROCCO, J. M. , HOUSE, J. S. & FRENCH, J. R. P. JR (1980) ‘Social Support, Occupational Stress, and Health’ , Journal of Health and Social Behaviour21 (4): 202–218 .
19.
MULLARKEY, S. , WALL, T. D. , WARR, P. B. , CLEGG, C. W. & STRIDE, C. B. (1999) Measures of Job Satisfaction,Mental Health and Job-Related Well-Being:A Benchmarking Manual. Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield .
20.
PAYNE, R. (1980) ‘Organisational Stress and Social Support’, in C. COPPER & R. PAYNE (eds) Current Concerns in Occupational Stress. New York:Wiley .
21.
RAYNES, N. V. , PETTIPHER, C. , WRIGHT, K. & SHIELL, A. (1994) The Cost and Quality of Community Residential Care. London: Fulton .
22.
ROSE, J. (1993) ‘Stress and Staff in Residential Settings:The Move from Hospital to the Community’ , Mental Handicap Research6 (4): 312–332 .
23.
ROSE, J. (1995) ‘Stress and Staff in Residential Settings:Towards an Integration of Existing Research’ , Mental Handicap Research8 (4): 220–236 .
24.
ROSE, J. (1997) ‘Stress and Stress Management’ , Tizard Learning Disability Review2 (1): 162–172 .
25.
ROSE, J. (1999) ‘Stress and Residential Staff Who Work with People Who Have an Intellectual Disability: A Factor Analytic Study’ , Journal of Intellectual Disability Research43 (4): 268–278 .
26.
ROSE, J. & SCHELEWA-DAVIES, D. (1997) ‘The Relationship between Staff Stress and Team Climate in Residential Services’ , Journal of Learning Disabilities1 (1): 19–24 .
27.
ROSE, J. , JONES, F. & FLETCHER, B. (1998a) ‘Investigating the Relationship between Stress and Worker Behaviour’ , Journal of Intellectual Disability Research42 (2): 163–172 .
28.
ROSE, J. , JONES, F. & FLETCHER, B. (1998b) ‘Stress Management:The Impact of an Organisational Intervention on Staff Well-Being and Performance at Work’ , Work and Stress12 (2): 112–124 .
29.
STATSOFT (1999) STATISTICA for Windows (computer program manual). Tulsa, OK: StatSoft, Inc.
30.
STENFERT KROESE, B. & FLEMING, I. (1992) ‘Staff's Attitudes and Working Conditions in Community Based Group Homes of People with Mental Handicaps’ , Mental Handicap Research5 (2): 82–91 .
31.
WALL, T. D. & LISCHERON, J. H. (1978) Worker Participation:A Critique of the Literature and Fresh Evidence. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill .
32.
WEST, M. A. (1990) ‘The Social Psychology of Innovation in Groups’, in M. WEST & J. FARR (eds) Innovation and Creativity at Work:Psychological and Organisational Strategies. Chichester:Wiley .
