Staff interactive style during multisensory storytelling with persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

Background Multisensory storytelling (MSST) is an individualised activity for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) in which a story is being told with an emphasis on sensory experiences and social interaction. MSST is a promising approach, but needs more empirical research evidence. In general, there is a lack of research about staff interaction during specific activities with people with PIMD. In the present study, we explored the possibility to describe staff interactive style during MSST making use of a global coding instrument. Methods Twenty dyads of a person with PIMD and a professional caregiver participated in an observation study. The caregivers received training in MSST and told a multisensory story to their client once a week, for a period of 10 weeks. The first, fifth and last session were recorded on video. Staff interactive style was coded using an adapted version of the Maternal Behavior Rating Scale, with a consensus rating procedure. Results Professional caregivers scored moderately on the Maternal Behavior Rating Scale. Repeated measures analyses showed no change in time. We did not find a relationship between staff interactive style and client or staff characteristics. Conclusions The Maternal Behavior Rating Scale contributes to our understanding of staff interactive style during activities with people with PIMD. Specifically for MSST, the moderate scores on the interactive style dimensions were unexpected, because the individualised MSST activity created an optimal situation for high‐quality interaction with people with PIMD. Because the interactive style did not improve through the repetition of the activity either, these results might point to a need for staff training in achieving high‐quality interaction during activities like MSST.