A recent review of literature suggested that interactions between support workers and people with learning disabilities with congenital deafblindess were lacking both in quantity and in quality. The authors of the current small study wanted to look in more detail at the perspectives of the support staff on their interactions with this group of people.
The authors analysed data from interviews with 8 disability support workers to identify common themes.
They found three key themes emerging from the interviews which they suggest support and elaborate on the findings of previous studies.
The themes were:
- the construction of client happiness
- the rationalisation of client disengagement
- imperatives of the staff role.
The authors conclude from their discussion of these findings that there is a need for provider organisations responsible for services to people with congenital deafblindness to develop very clear policy and procedure documents to make the importance of social interaction between staff and clients explicit.
Interacting with adults with congenital deafblindness: The experiences of disability support workers, Prain M et al., in Journal of intellectual and Developmental Disability, 37, 1, 27-34
