Background This study examined the psychometric properties of the Group Climate Instrument (GCI) in a sample of N = 189 adults (79% men) with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning who were residents of a treatment facility in the Netherlands. Method Construct validity of the GCI was examined by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Also, reliability and convergent validity of the GCI were examined. We also examined the variability in perception of the living group climate between and within living groups by computing intraclass correlation coefficients. Results The model contained four first‐order factors (support, growth, group atmosphere and repression) and a second‐order factor overall climate, providing preliminary support for construct validity of the GCI. Reliability coefficients were good for all factors. Preliminary evidence for convergent validity was found in significant moderate associations between subscales and single item ratings for the factors of group climate. The intraclass correlation coefficients indicated that a considerate proportion of variance can be attributed to between‐group differences. Conclusions The GCI might be used to assess perception of the living group climate for individuals with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning in psychiatric and forensic care settings, although further development of the GCI and replication of our findings seem necessary.

A high number of aggressive incidents in secure forensic care are considered a serious problem, not only for clients but also for sociotherapists 1 as well (Robinson et al., 2018;Ros et al., 2013).According to the results of a study presented by one of the Dutch labour unions (CNV, Zorg & Welzijn, 2018) addressing aggressive incidents in Dutch health care for people with intellectual disabilities, more than 50% of the 640 caregivers experienced physical (70%) or verbal (79%) aggressive incidents in their work.About half (53%) reported an increase in aggressive incidents during the past year. These results are worrying given the range of negative consequences for victims, the aggressor and the organization in which aggressive incidents occur. Negative consequences for the victim can include psychological effects (e.g. anxiety, sleep disturbance, fear, anger and resentment) and physical injury (Knotter, 2019). Sociotherapists and clients may feel less safe in living groups where there are a high number of aggressive 1 Throughout this paper, the term 'sociotherapist' is used to describe the role of a professional caregiver.

We examined associations between group climate as perceived by 212 individuals with mild intellectual disability and work climate as experienced by 262 sociotherapists in a forensic setting. Results showed that if sociotherapists experienced more job satisfaction, they experienced less negative team functioning. Also, more positive team functioning was related to less repression. Workload and negative team functioning were related to less possibilities for growth by clients. No significant associations were found between other work climate and group climate dimensions. This study emphasized the importance of being aware of parallel processes between work climate and group climate in secure settings.