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Change in Care Staff's Attitudes Towards People with Learning Disabilities Following Intervention at the Leros PIKPA Asylum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

P. Kordoutis ,
G. Kolaitis ,
A. Perakis ,
P. Papanikolopoulou  and
J. Tsiantis
P. Kordoutis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Paediatrics, “Aghia Sophia” Children's Hospital
G. Kolaitis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Paediatrics, “Aghia Sophia” Children's Hospital
A. Perakis
Affiliation:
Association for Child and Adolescent Psychosocial Health, Holargos
P. Papanikolopoulou
Affiliation:
Association for Child and Adolescent Psychosocial Health, Holargos
J. Tsiantis*
Affiliation:
Medical School, University of Athens; Department of Psychological Paediatrics, “Aghia Sophia” Children's Hospital
*
Professor John Tsiantis, Director, Department of Psychological Paediatrics, “Aghia Sophia” Children's Hospital, GR 11527 Athens, Greece
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Extract

The pilot intervention project at Leros PIKPA asylum sought to change the management of residents by decreasing care staff's tendency to view people with learning disabilities with attitudes of custodial segregation (e.g. “they should all live in institutions”) and categorisation (e.g. “they are all alike”). To that end, staff were trained on the job in resident management and participated in seminars, sensitisation groups, clinical case presentations and visits to model rehabilitation units. To investigate whether staff attitudes towards people with learning disabilities had been influenced, staff members responded to a questionnaire of such attitudes, in March 1991 (initial assessment) and a year later (reassessment). Factor analyses of attitude ratings at initial assessment revealed a strong negative attitudinal construct, “Rejective and custodial segregation – Categorisation”, according to which institutionalisation was the only appropriate type of care for people with learning disabilities, regardless of individual differences. At reassessment, however, this factor had split into two independent ones, “Rejective and custodial segregation” and “Categorisation”, suggesting that the staff had understood that custodial care did not apply to all persons with learning disabilities indiscriminately. Reassessment factors further indicated that staff had comprehended the appropriateness of alternative care forms – community and home care. Analysis of Categorisation and Custodial segregation attitude ratings showed that only staff's tendency to view the disabled as “all alike” (Categorisation) had decreased at reassessment. The latter change and the structural change revealed by the factor analyses imply that staff's attitudes underwent a small but significant modification.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 167 , Issue S28: The Children of Leros PIKPA , July 1995 , pp. 56 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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