To Örebro University

To promote behavioral change processes in young people in institutional care, it is important that staff groups have common therapeutic goals, a unified view on how to achieve change, and similar attitudes towards the use of theory and methods. This article examines the level of Staff Group Unanimity at 8 treatment wards, by using the Correctional Program Assessment Inventory 2000 (CPAI), a questionnaire, additional interviews with key staff, and observations. Results show that most staff members have different views of the theory and methods used, low common therapeutic goals, and low agreement on how treatment should be performed, accompanied by low to modest confidence in management overall, and management’s ability to promote staff unity. The complexity of promoting positive interactions in the staff group without also creating distance to the residents is discussed.