Evaluation of staff training in group homes for retarded persons

Staff in 12 group homes for mentally retarded persons were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition (N = 6), receiving eight 1.5-hour training sessions in behavior modification, or a waiting-list control condition (N = 6). Pre- to posttraining change scores showed that, compared to control home staff, experimental home staff increased significantly more in knowledge of behavioral techniques, had better evaluations of their residents, and indicated less decline in job satisfaction. Naturalistic observational data, collected with continuous real-time recording devices, showed trained staff superior in correctness and latency of their responses to residents. Trained homes also had significantly greater increases in the frequency and duration of positive staff and resident behavior.