The Impact of Implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) with Direct Care Staff in a Residential Treatment Center

This study compared the ratings of self-efficacy and burnout by traditionally-trained direct care staff in a residential treatment center with ratings by a group of direct care staff that were trained to implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) with adults who have intellectual or developmental disabilities. Staff responses on measures of self-efficacy, using the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) and burnout, using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were compared across the two groups: One group of staff was not exposed to PBIS training (traditional training only), whereas the other group was trained to implement PBIS. A total of 70 direct care staff members from a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) participated in this study. The mean differences of total scores on each measure were compared using t-tests to determine if there were significant between-group differences. In addition, as the measure of self-efficacy was originally designed for use with teachers and was slightly modified here for use with direct care staff, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the factor structure of the measure when administered to staff in an RTC.The results indicate that the modified TSES has one factor, which differs from the three factors found when the TSES was administered to teachers who were implementing PBIS in schools. Additionally, significant differences were found in staff members' sense of self-efficacy between the control and PBIS groups. However, staff members' degree of burnout were not significantly different. The results must be interpreted with caution because of the study's small sample size. However, there are several implications for future research that are discussed to further examine the impact of implementing PBIS on direct care staff members in residential treatment settings.