When work happens in the house: Perceptions of how residential
care staff choose to spend work time in transitional living units for people
with brain injury
Affiliations: Discipline of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health
Sciences, The University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW, Australia
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Christine Chapparo, MA, PhD,
DipOT(NSW), Discipline of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, The
University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia. Tel.: +61 2
9351 9206; Fax: +61 2 9351 9197; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Objective: This naturalistic study explored the influence of various
contextual factors on the decision making of residential care staff (RCS) who
worked and lived with clients with brain injury in transitional living
environments. The findings reported here arose from the results of a larger
study that investigated the multiple contextual, personal, professional and
theoretical influences on RCS decision making. Participants: Eleven
residential care staff who were employed in brain injury transitional living
units in Sydney, Australia participated. Methods: Qualitative data were
derived from interviews, participant observation and reviews of videotaped
staff and client interactions with the residential care staff. Results: The RCS identified time and organisational motivators as major influences on
daily decision making at work. They described how decisions were made by them
about how to prioritise time at work from two personal perspectives, that of
'hospital person' and `house person', adopted relative to contextual influences
at the time. Conclusion: Residential care staff who are in close personal
contact with clients for long periods of time make decisions about their work
that is largely based on their personal notions of running a house'. Further
research is required to describe the emergent phenomenon of staff 'house'
behaviour.
Keywords: Qualitative research, clinical reasoning, institutional care
