Serving profoundly mentally retarded persons: Staff attitudes and job satisfaction

Direct-care and professional staff members who served profoundly and multiply disabled persons in 13 small community settings or in a large specialty hospital generally expressed positive attitudes regarding their jobs and resident care. Further, staff members who worked with the most disabled residents did not differ from employees serving profoundly but relatively less impaired persons. Hospital direct-care staff, however, seemed to endorse more 'normalized' interpersonal relationships with residents, even though the hospital might be considered a 'more restrictive' setting. It therefore appears that normalization of the physical and interpersonal environments may be somewhat independent in facilities serving profoundly disabled persons.