Staff behaviour and resident engagement before and after active support training

Identifying the factors associated with greater increases in resident engagement has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of active support (AS).

Observational data from Stancliffe, Harman, Toogood, and McVilly's (2007) study of AS were analysed to evaluate amount of staff help, effectiveness of staff help, and staff use of praise.

Lag analyses showed that antecedent staff help was consistently followed by resident engagement at pre-test. This strong association did not increase significantly at post-test. Resident engagement was more likely to follow staff help than the other way around. There was an increase from pre-test to post-test in help and praise by staff. The higher absolute amount of praise was largely the result of the increase in staff help.

The amount of staff help, its effectiveness, and use of praise by staff may each be important in increasing engagement. These factors should continue to be the focus of research attention and applied efforts to help ensure active support is consistently effective.