How service-users with intellectual disabilities understand challenging behaviour and approaches to managing it

This study explored understandings that service-users with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour held around their behaviour, what shaped these understandings, and the relationship between how behaviours are managed and well-being.

Eight participants (three female, five male) partook in individual semi-structured qualitative interviews. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Three master themes emerged from this analysis: (a) challenging behaviour can be explained via an internal or external frame of reference, with each framework having different implications for how participants attempted to manage behaviour. (b) Positive relationships provide a long-term buffer to challenging behaviour, with positive relationships with family, staff and peers operating through different mechanisms to achieve this. (c) A greater ability to exert power and control in day-to-day life was perceived to reduce challenging behaviour in the long term.

Implications for practice are discussed.