Receiving Positive Behaviour Support: The Experiences of People With Intellectual Disability, Their Family, and Staff Members

Positive behaviour support is an evidence‐based framework for people displaying behaviours that challenge, which is widely used within the United Kingdom. Few studies have investigated the experiences of people with intellectual disability, their family members, and paid staff members who receive positive behaviour support‐based interventions from intensive support teams. Individual, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 10 adults with intellectual disability, 10 family members and 10 paid staff members who received an intervention based on a Positive Behaviour Support framework from an intensive support team in England. Participants were aged 18–74 years. Semi‐structured interviews took place within 4 months of discharge from the service. They were recorded and transcribed. Data was analysed using an Inductive/Deductive Hybrid approach. Initially inductive data analysis was conducted using Thematic Analysis. Subsequent deductive analysis mapped themes onto an existing framework of Positive Behaviour Support. Four overarching themes were created from the data, ‘Developing a therapeutic working relationship’, ‘Access to resources’, ‘Building knowledge, skills and confidence in the present’, and ‘Instilling hope and resilience for the future’. Results were compared with the Positive Behaviour Support framework and areas of convergence and discrepancy were identified. Gathering multi‐perspectival data was a strength of this study. Results from interviews largely mapped onto key components of a Positive Behaviour Support framework. Some additional relational factors were identified around developing therapeutic relationships across the system and the importance of instilling hope for change and the future. These factors may have implications for theoretical mechanisms of change and be helpful for clinicians to consider in their practise.