Stress and Residential Staff: Towards an Integration of Existing Research

This paper examines the literature relating to stress in staff who care for people with learning disabilities. The majority of published studies have considered stress in residential staff. When assessing the studies, it soon becomes apparent that there is considerable variability between them in terms of methodology and results. However, the main reason for the range of results probably represent differences in organisational structure of the services surveyed. Despite this variability some simple general trends emerge which suggest that potential stressors and supports vary depending upon their proximity within the organisational structure. Models are presented on how these inter‐relationships might be considered.