HPRHealth Psychology ResearchTBA2420-8124Health Psychology Research10.4081/hpr.2013.e3GeneralResilience and professional  quality of life in staff working  with people with intellectual  disabilities and offending  behavior in community based  and institutional settingshttps://healthpr.org/journal/HPR/1/1/10.4081/hpr.2013.e3SøndenaaErik,LauvrudChristian,SandvikMarita,NonstadKåre,WhittingtonRichard2013112013-01-02Staff in forensic services for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are expected to deal with a wide range of emotional challenges when providing care. The potential impact of this demanding work has not been systemati cally explored previously. This article explores the professional quality of life (QoL) and the resilience (hardiness) of the staff in this set ting. The Professional QoL questionnaire and the Disposional Resilience Scale were com pleted by staff (n=85, 80% response rate) in the Norwegian forensic service for ID offend ers. Responses from staff working in institu tional settings were compared to those from staff in local community services. Staff in the local community services had higher resilience scores compared to the staff in the institutional setting, (t=2.19; P<0.05). However in the other QoL and resilience domains there were no differences between the staff in the two settings. The greater sense of resilient control among community staff may be a function of both the number of serv ice users they work with and the institutional demands they face. Even though these partici pants worked with relatively high risk clients, they did not report significantly impaired qual ity of life compared to other occupations. resilience, professional quality of life, health-care staff, intellectual disability offenders

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