Educating staff and family members in the long-term management of behaviour disorders

Working with patients who have sustained a brain injury is stressful and psychologically demanding. At times there are threats or actual episodes of physical assault. Staff members are vulnerable to a number of problems that interfere with effective treatment of patients including “burnout”, anger at patients and their families, and fighting for power and control. These problems are not unique to brain injury and can arise in a range of residential settings. However, there are a number of factors within the field of brain-injury rehabilitation that render staff particularly susceptible to stress (Greif & Matarazzo, 1982; Sargent, 1989).