Effects of Two Different Types of Feedback Content on the Performance of Direct Care Staff

Although not universally effective, feedback has been used to improve performance under various conditions. Several dimensions of feedback have been identified, including content. Along the content dimension, eight types have been identified in the literature. This study employed an A-B-C design to evaluate the effectiveness of two types in improving the performance of seven direct care staff. The types examined were: (a) individual performance compared to previous individual performance, and (b) individual performance compared to previous group performance. The performance measures were features of the subjects' jobs at homes for mentally retarded adults: (a) percent of session time engaged in programming, (b) percent of session time across training categories, and (c) percent of programming time across residents. Results showed individual-individual feedback significantly improved performance over baseline, and individual-group feedback further enhanced performance. Results also indicated the subjects' distribution of training time across training categories generally did not change, while distribution of training time across residents showed mixed results.