The extent of support for ordinary living provided in staffed housing: The relationship between staffing levels, resident characteristics, staff:resident interactions and resident activity patterns

Staffed housing has become an accepted alternative to institutional residential services for people with learning disabilities on the expectation that such provision will promote ‘ordinary’ patterns of living. Information on staffing levels and the behavioural characteristics of residents together with direct observational data on staff:resident interactions and resident engagement in activity were collected on 15 housing services in South Wales and analysed to explore the interrelationship between these key input and outcome variables. Staffing levels were found to be related to resident characteristics in general but not consistently so. The extent of staff:resident interaction per staff was related to resident characteristics, with staff in services for more able residents spending more time with them. The level of staff support given to residents with more substantial disabilities, slightly higher than that given to more able residents, reflected high staffing input. Resident engagement in activity was strongly related to ability. Participation in household activity was virtually non-existent among residents with the greatest disabilities. The results were compared to similar data from earlier studies on a range of residential services. The relative benefits of small, community-based housing services over institutional and larger community settings were confirmed by the Welsh data. However, comparison to other housing services, which had a particular emphasis on staff helping residents become involved in domestic activity, supports the conclusion that ‘ordinary living’ for people with severe or profound learning disabilities depends not only on the provision of ordinary environments but also on the orientation and working methods adopted.