Elien Neimeijer

126 easily into a single protocol or standardised guideline. Working at the intersection of forensic care, psychiatry and care for individuals with intellectual disabilities underlines the complex task assignment of sociotherapists in forensic care for clients with MID-BIF. Group climate must be attuned to the specific characteristics, needs, learning style of individuals with MID-BIF, mental disorders and risky behaviour, while at the same time risks and safety must be monitored. High-quality and effective treatment requires the in- tegration of knowledge and skills from forensic care, psychiatry and care for individuals with MID-BIF. It may therefore be impossible to formulate a uniform and optimal group climate for this target group. As shown in chapter 4, the perception of group climate varies per client, per situation and over time. Sociotherapists are expected to receive the subtle and often ambivalent and ambiguous signals sent out by the clients, to interpret behaviour in a responsive way within that specific context and intervene accordingly (chapter 4). To enable sociotherapists to create a therapeutic group climate that meets the specific needs of this target group, it seems crucial to create a positive work climate (as highlight- ed in chapter 5). In this dissertation it was concluded that there are some associations be- tween work climate and group climate, but that these results should be interpreted with caution. This does not alter the fact that organisations are faced with the challenge of enabling sociotherapists to perform their complex tasks as good as possible. This means that continuous attention must be paid to what teams as well as individual sociothera- pists need in order to be able to do their important work. In daily clinical practice soci- otherapists have to do their job while basic conditions are often far from ideal. Organi- sations struggle to find enough qualified staff, and often there is a high absenteeism and turnover rate among staff (CNV Zorg & Welzijn, 2018). For example, absenteeism due to sickness among healthcare professionals is higher than in other professions, burnout is more frequent and the psychosocial burden on staff increases (Douwes & Hooftman, 2019; Klein Hesselink, Kraan, Venema, & Van den Bossche, 2014; Seti, 2008). High ab- senteeism is not only a problem for the staff members concerned, but also undesirable for the organisation and treatment process of the clients (Lambert, Barton-Bellessa, & Hogan, 2015). Knowledge and experience disappear and new staff have to be recruited and trained. This not only creates high costs, but also shortage of staff on the living group and repeatedly new faces (high percentage of flex workers) for clients and colleagues which may be detrimental to the quality of care. High turnover of staff members results in discontinuity of care and can have a negative impact on the therapeutic relationship