Search results for ‘Subject term:"challenging behaviour"’ Sort:
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Staff variables associated with the challenging behaviour of clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities
- Authors:
- LAMBRECHTS G., KUPPENS S., MAES B.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 53(7), July 2009, pp.620-632.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Previous research has identified that staff-client interactions play an important role in the origin and maintenance of challenging behaviour. Particularly, the reciprocity between staff behaviour and client behaviour has been considered a key issue. Furthermore, severe challenging behaviour has been found to elicit negative emotional reactions from staff which in turn may influence staff's behaviour. Another variable that has been associated with staff behaviour are staff's attributions regarding clients' challenging behaviour. The present study tested several hypotheses about associations between staff variables and challenging behaviour. Questionnaires were used to investigate associations between the attributions, emotional reactions and behavioural reactions of 51 staff members towards challenging behaviour of clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities who displayed self-injurious behaviour, stereotyped behaviour and/or aggressive/destructive behaviour. Staff members reported that reactions to challenging behaviour differed according to the type of challenging behaviour. Negative emotional reactions were positively associated with challenging behaviour. Associations between emotional reactions, staff beliefs and staff reactions were inconsistent. The findings suggest that there is a need to look for a better conceptualisation and assessment of the variables under investigation.
Additional support for individuals with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviors in regions of northwest Europe
- Authors:
- LUNENBORG Carolien B., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 8(2), June 2011, pp.92-103.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
About 10% of individuals with intellectual disability (ID) exhibit challenging behaviours. To support parents and care staff when they are unable to find a solution to overcome or reduce these behaviours, some countries provide additional professional support. In the Netherlands, 5 regional Centres for Consultation and Expertise (CCEs) offer supplemental support as part of their consultation programme. This study was undertaken to determine if additional professional support occurs in other regions of northwestern Europe and, if so, how was is organised. The regions which were looked at were Norway, Flanders, England, Wales, and the German regions of the Rhineland. Key informants in each region completed questionnaires about additional support services. The findings showed a diversity of approaches addressing additional support services. In most regions, there is no general formal policy on providing such support for individuals with ID, their parents, or care staff. Instead, either a range of local initiatives have been developed or there are no initiatives. In these instances, persons with ID or their carers have to rely on regular support services to address their mental health needs. The article concludes that organising additional support as part of a formal services will increase the likelihood that, when regular support has failed, individuals with ID or their carers will be able to obtain supports to find solutions for reducing problematic challenging behaviours.
Parenting stress and parenting behavior among foster mothers of foster children with externalizing problems
- Authors:
- VANSCHOONLANDT Femke, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 35(10), 2013, p.1742–1750.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Foster children often have externalising problems. Since foster parents are selected and trained, they are often expected to be able to handle the externalising problems of these children. Very little is, however, known about foster parents' parenting stress and parenting behaviour in the context of challenging foster caregiving. In this study, the parenting stress and parenting behaviour of 39 foster mothers of recently placed foster children with externalising problems were studied. By using standardised measures with normative data, foster mothers' scores on different parenting stress and parenting behaviour subscales were compared to published norms. Foster mothers of children with externalising problems experienced more parenting stress than the norm group. The parenting context, provided by these foster mothers, was similar to the parenting context provided by the norm group. The prevalence of specific dysfunctional parenting behaviours (e.g., less involvement in positive parenting) was small to moderate, but nearly half of the foster mothers could be classified as making dysfunctional adaptations to their parenting environment. Moreover, only the minority of foster mothers provided an adaptive parenting context (e.g., more than average involvement in positive parenting). The implications of these results for pre-service training and on-going support for foster parents are discussed. (Publisher abstract)
Behavioral symptoms in mild cognitive impairment as compared with Alzheimer's disease and healthy older adults
- Authors:
- VAN DER MUSSELE Stefan, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 28(3), 2013, pp.265-275.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a clinical concept that describes patients who are in an intermediate state between normal aging and dementia. It does not generally affect their activities of daily living but complex instrumental functions may be minimally impaired. Although behavioural symptoms are common in MCI they are not included in the concept. The aim of this study was to characterise behaviour in MCI compared with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and healthy older patients. The data were drawn from the baseline of a longitudinal study of behavioural symptoms of dementia and MCI. The study population, consisting of 270 MCI, 402 AD patients, and 108 healthy controls from Antwerp, underwent a battery of tests and assessments. Moderate-to-severe behavioural symptoms were present in 13% of MCI patients, compared with 39% in AD patients and 3% in controls. The general severity of behavioural symptoms was intermediate between controls and AD patients. The three most common symptoms in MCI patients were aggressiveness (49%), affective disturbance (45%), and anxiety (38%); in AD patients, they were aggressiveness (60%), activity disturbances (54%), and psychosis (40%). Overall the prevalence and severity of frontal lobe symptoms, aggressiveness, activity disturbances, and delusions was intermediate between normal aging and AD and the severity of physically non-aggressive, verbally agitated behaviour and the severity of depressive symptoms were also intermediate.
The process of definitive institutionalization of community dwelling demented vs non demented elderly: data obtained from a network of sentinel general practitioners
- Authors:
- SCHOENMAKERS Birgitte, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24(5), May 2009, pp.523-531.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The aim of the present study was to investigate the differences between characteristics of community dwelling demented and non demented elderly and their caregivers at the moment of definitive institutionalization. The study is a cross-sectional analysis performed on data obtained from a Network of Sentinel General Practitioners. Older demented patients with several concomitant diseases were mainly placed because of unmanageable behavioural disturbances. Strikingly, these dementia patients were more often confronted with a time delay in definitive institutionalization due to their high care dependence. Although burden in the dementia family caregivers was an important motivation for definitive institutionalization, it did not seem to be a motive in the final institutionalization circumstances. Behavioural disturbances are independently of caregiver burden, professional support, or a spousal relationship the main direct reason for institutionalization of community dwelling demented elderly. The way caregivers feel supported might play the key role in the final placement decision