Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 1 of 1
Staff attributions about challenging behaviours of people with intellectual disabilities and transactional stress process: a qualitative study
- Author:
- CUDRE-MAUROUX A.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54(1), January 2010, pp.26-39.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
It has been suggested that staff explanations about challenging behaviours in people with intellectual disabilities may impact on staff responses to such behaviour as well as on the staff and clients’ well-being. These beliefs may also impede the implementation of effective behavioural interventions. However, to date research has demonstrated only a weak empirical association between attributions, emotions and behaviours. This study investigated these relationships within a broader framework including the transactional stress model of Lazarus and Folkman. It also looked at the level of congruence with Weiner’s model of helping behaviour. A case study method, using semi-structured interviews, was adopted to cover a full caregiver’s adaptive sequence when facing challenging behaviour. Data was collected from ten subjects (in ten contextualised situations) from three social institutions for people with ID in Switzerland. The results revealed three issues: that Weiner's model is too restrictive to explain the complexity of contextualised encounters; a need to differentiate types of attributions within a temporal perspective; and the coping role of attributions needs to be considered. The author concludes that there is a need to extend the research on attribution and it needs to be set within ecological contexts and include coping behaviour as an aspect of staff attributions of challenging behaviours.