Observational Study of Ward Staff Behavior

This article describes a behavioral observation procedure for the study of ward staff behavior. The procedure was employed in a fairly typical state school ward for young children with primary retardation and secondary physical disabilities. The data indicated that more than half of the ward personnel's time was spent on activities away from the children and, of the time spent with the children, most went toward nonsocial types of interactions. It appeared that time spent at nonchild related tasks (housekeeping, paperwork, etc.) tended to be more visible to superiors. It was suggested that child related behavioral goals be made highly visible and the staff be rewarded for accomplishment of those goals.