Values and Psychological Acceptance as Correlates of Burnout in Support Staff Working With Adults With Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

There is growing evidence that acceptance and mindfulness interventions for support staff in intellectual disability (ID) services can have beneficial mental health outcomes for staff themselves and individuals with ID. However, there are few data focusing on the relevance of related psychological processes for support staff well-being. The purpose of this research was to contribute to the evidence base and to introduce a new measure of staff values in ID services: the Support Staff Values Questionnaire (SSVQ-ID). Fifty-nine support staff completed a measure of psychological acceptance (the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire), the SSVQ-ID, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The acceptance and values measures had good internal consistency and statistically significant associations with dimensions of burnout. The results suggest that further research on acceptance and mindfulness process variables is warranted along with interventions designed to increase support staff resilience, especially when working with clients with dual diagnosis.

Keywords:

• support staff
• psychological acceptance
• values
• mindfulness
• burnout
• work stress