Staff strategies and explanations for intervening with challenging behaviours

Behavioural models identify the actions of others as an important factor in the development and maintenance of challenging behaviours. In the present study, 109 care staff were asked about their immediate and longer-term intervention strategies for a fictitious young man's challenging behaviour. Staff descriptions of long-term interventions were largely consistent with the aims of psychological interventions. However, their immediate intervention strategies were similar to the counter-habilitative strategies identified in previous observational and self-report research. The implications of these results for models of staff behaviour, staff training, the design of behavioural programmes and future research are discussed.