Issue:
In 2011, the WCB provided the principal researcher and this research team with WCB funds to study the perspectives of managers and workers when workplace injuries occurred at St. Amant. The study’s findings showed that the workers injured were not aware of what they did wrong to sustain an injury from patients or how they could try another approach using their knowledge of best practices and training. The study also found that frontline workers did not consistently apply on a day to day basis what they had learned in training to effectively deal with challenging behavior situations and prevent injuries.
Objectives:
In partnership with the University of Manitoba, the researchers propose a knowledge transfer program at St. Amant Centre for managers responsible for frontline staff who work with patients that have an intellectual disability and display challenging behavior. The main aim of the intervention training is change the culture of the programs so that managers and supervisors would better support frontline staff that sustain injuries or experience emotional trauma from patients with challenging behavior.
Anticipated Results:
The overall outcome of the study would be to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions using staff engagement as a yardstick before and after the interventions are introduced. The proposed study addresses gaps in transfer of knowledge from theory to practice by proposing organizational interventions for managers. It has the potential to significantly impact the ability to support frontline workers, better management of injured workers especially those suffering from mental and emotional trauma and promote the safety culture at St. Amant.
Investigators:
Beverley Temple, University of Manitoba and St. Amant Research Centre
