Resident Characteristics and Staff Behavior in Two Hospitals for Mentally Retarded Adults.

The article evaluates the resident characteristics and behavior of staff in two hospitals for mentally retarded adults. The adaptive and maladaptive activities of patients with nursing staff in the two hospitals were observed. It was found that patients who needed more attention received it but not necessarily of the proper type. It was suggested that one possible means of countering this problem is for the nursing staff to be assigned much smaller groups of patients than it is used to be.