Impact of practice leadership management style on staff experience in services for people with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour: A further examination and partial replication

• Staff working in ID and challenging behaviour services can have poor experiences.
• Managers using a practice leadership style focus upon staff/service user interaction.
• Practice leadership is associated with less staff stress and better work experiences.

Background and aimsPractice leadership (PL) style of frontline management has been shown to be associated with better experiences for staff working with people who may exhibit challenging behaviours (Deveau & McGill, 2014). This study aimed to examine additional staff experience factors with a different, larger sample and to partially replicate the findings of (Deveau & McGill, 2014).MethodsThis study was a survey of staff self-reported data collected as part of a larger study. Information was collected on PL and staff experiences of: stress, turnover, job satisfaction and positive work experiences.Results and conclusionsThe results broadly supported Deveau and McGill (2014) and demonstrated an association between PL and greater job satisfaction and positive experiences for staff. Results on staff turnover were inconsistent. The positive impact of PL on staff experience was further supported by this study. Suggestions are made for further research.ImplicationsThese findings suggest further research is needed to examine the potential of interventions in frontline management/leadership practice to improve staff experience of working in challenging environments.