Date of Award

1998

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Social Work

Keywords

Sociology, Public and Social Welfare.

Supervisor

Hall, A.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

In the past few decades, developmentally challenged people have been placed in residential and community homes due to the process of deinstitutionalization. Community living support employees who work in these homes must contend with individuals with certain behavioural problems. The present study employed a phenomenological perspective of client aggression and violence towards community living support workers in a human service agency. The methodology consisted of in-depth, face to face, interviews employing open-ended questions with sixteen, male and female, front-line support workers in Essex County. During the interviews, respondents expressed, in their own views, their definitions of violence, their perceptions on the impacts of violence, their perceptions about the support that they receive from the managers and directors and their coping strategies. Support workers discussed the importance of coping strategies such as social support networks, humour, substance use, fatalism, absenteeism, and quitting to deal with their problems. In addition, interviewees cited certain factors they believed were responsible for the violence and their perceptions of ways to reduce work place violence. The reasons that employees continue to work with violent and aggressive clients are also discussed.Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1998 .C63. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 39-02, page: 0418. Adviser: Alan Hall. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1998.

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