Writing About Stress: The Impact of a Stress‐Management Programme on Staff Accounts of Dealing with Stress

BACKGROUND: Helping staff serving clients with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour to cope with stress has implications for their own well-being and for the lives of those they support. METHOD: This study examined staff members' views of stress and the effectiveness of a stress-management intervention. Effectiveness was assessed using written assignments regarding stress management, and changes in views presented were tested in a pre- and post-test control group design. RESULTS: In the first phase, a content analysis was conducted across groups, which revealed that participants expressed a broad variety of views about stress and coping mechanisms, with considerable individual differences. In the second phase, a more fine-grained quantitative analysis was conducted to assess training effectiveness. Results showed an increase in the proportion of coping strategies referred to by the experimental group post-training. This positive change remained at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the content analysis and the outcome data have implications for staff training.