Exploring the association of staff characteristics with staff perceptions of quality of life of individuals with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviours.

Background: This study aimed to examine the associations between individual staff and staff team characteristics and quality of life of individuals with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviours.

Method: With multilevel analyses, we examined educational level, experience, attitudes and behaviours of 240 staff members, in relation to their perception of quality of life of 152 individuals with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviours they cared for.

Results: Two individual staff characteristics were related to better quality of life: higher educational and self-reflection levels. Of the team characteristics, higher educational level, higher self-efficacy and more friendly behaviour were associated with better quality of life. Unexpectedly, higher staff-individual ratio was related to lower quality of life.

Conclusions: Both individual staff and staff team characteristics are associated with quality of life, indicating the need to take staff team characteristics into account when examining quality of life.