Greet Lambrechts

Staff variables associated with the challenging behaviour of clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities.

BACKGROUNDnPrevious 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 staffs behaviour. Another variable that has been associated with staff behaviour are staffs attributions regarding clients challenging behaviour. The present study tested several hypotheses about associations between staff variables and challenging behaviour.nnnMETHODnQuestionnaires 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.nnnRESULTSnStaff 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.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe findings suggest that there is a need to look for a better conceptualization and assessment of the variables under investigation.

Maternal Parenting Behavior and Child Behavior Problems in Families of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face specific challenges in parenting, but concrete parenting behavior has never been properly investigated in these families. This exploratory questionnaire study compared parenting behaviors among mothers of children and adolescents with ASD (nxa0=xa0552) and without ASD (nxa0=xa0437) and examined associations between child behavior problems and parenting behavior. Results showed that mothers of children with ASD reported significantly lower scores on Rules and Discipline and higher scores on Positive Parenting, Stimulating the Development, and Adapting the Environment. Age was differently related to parenting behavior in the ASD versus control group. Furthermore, distinctive correlation patterns between parenting behavior and externalizing or internalizing behavior problems were found for both groups.

Analysis of Staff Reports on the Frequency of Challenging Behaviour in People with Severe or Profound Intellectual Disabilities.

The main goal of this study was to investigate whether staff members vary in their frequency reports on challenging behaviour concerning the same client. Because staffs approaches of challenging behaviour are affected by a range of staff characteristics, we hypothesised that these staff characteristics could explain this variability between staff members. We used questionnaires to investigate the influence of staffs age, gender, experience in working with people with intellectual disabilities, working hours, professional qualifications, sort of education, and their emotional reactions and beliefs regarding the challenging behaviour. This study involved 152 staff members and 51 clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities who displayed self-injurious behaviour, stereotyped behaviour, and/or aggressive/destructive behaviour. A part of the variability between staffs reports on the frequency of challenging behaviour was indeed explained by differences between the staff members. Working hours, internal attribution, gender, and experience in working with people with severe or profound intellectual disabilities turned out to be influencing variables. Summarising, staff members differ in their reports on the frequency of challenging behaviour. To get an accurate picture of a clients challenging behaviour, perceptions of several staff members are needed.

Staff reactions to challenging behaviour: An observation study

Staff reactions play an important role in the development and maintaining of clients challenging behaviour. Because there is a paucity of research on staff reactions in naturalistic settings, this study examined sequential associations between challenging behaviour and staff reactions by means of a descriptive analysis. We analysed video recordings of the reactions of 10 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. As expected, the staff members used much verbal behaviours after challenging behaviour and often immediately tried to stop the challenging behaviour. Furthermore, staff often gave attention to challenging behaviour whereas offering or taking away material or tasks were less frequently observed reactions. Reactions to aggressive/destructive behaviour and self-injurious behaviour were quite similar. After stereotyped behaviour, not that many reactions occurred significantly more. Although this study has clinical implications and made a valuable contribution to research on staff reactions to challenging behaviour, more research is needed, more specifically, about the effectiveness of these staff reactions.

Mothers’ Parenting Behaviors in Families of School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Observational and Questionnaire Study

Although parents of children with ASD face specific challenges in parenting, only a few studies have empirically investigated parenting behaviors among these parents. The current study examined differences in parenting behaviors between mothers of school-aged children with ASD (nxa0=xa030) and mothers of typically developing children (nxa0=xa039), using both an observational measure and a self-report questionnaire. Results indicated that mothers of children with ASD obtained significantly lower scores on Sensitivity and Provision of structure as measured during the observation. They reported significantly higher scores on Material rewarding and Adapting the environment on the questionnaire. When controlling for parenting stress, the group differences on Sensitivity and Material rewarding did not remain significant.

Revealing interdyad differences in naturally occurring staff reactions to challenging behaviour of clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities by means of Clusterwise Hierarchical Classes Analysis (HICLAS)

BACKGROUNDnInvestigating interdyad (i.e. couples of a client and their usual caregiver) differences in naturally occurring patterns of staff reactions to challenging behaviour (e.g. self-injurious, stereotyped and aggressive/destructive behaviour) of clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities is important to optimise client-staff interactions. Most studies, however, fail to combine a naturalistic setup with a person-level analysis, in that they do not involve a careful inspection of the interdyad differences and similarities.nnnMETHODnIn this study, the recently proposed Clusterwise Hierarchical Classes Analysis (HICLAS) method is adopted and applied to data of in which video fragments (recorded in a naturalistic setting) of a client showing challenging behaviour and the staff reacting to it were analysed. In a Clusterwise HICLAS analysis, the staff-client dyads are grouped into a number of clusters and the prototypical behaviour-reaction patterns that are specific for each cluster (i.e. interdyad differences and similarities) are revealed.nnnRESULTSnClusterwise HICLAS discloses clear interdyad differences (and similarities) in the prototypical patterns of clients challenging behaviour and the associated staff reactions, complementing and qualifying the results of earlier studies in which only general patterns were disclosed.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe usefulness and clinical relevance of Clusterwise HICLAS is demonstrated. In particular, Clusterwise HICLAS may capture idiosyncratic aspects of staff-client interactions, which may stimulate direct support workers to adopt person-centred support practices that take the specific abilities of the client into account.

Staff emotional reactions and experiences towards challenging behaviour: an interview study

Abstract More and more attention is given to the psychological effects of challenging behaviour on others. Staff members’ emotional reactions and experiences are important variables in this context, and need to be studied using direct measurement of staff exposure to challenging behaviours. In this study, 12 staff members were confronted with video recordings of their own behaviour in situations, in which a client was showing challenging behaviour. They were interviewed about their emotions and emotional experiences. Next to positive and negative emotions, staff members often mentioned the importance of the help they received from their colleagues. Some emotions were linked to the frequency of the challenging behaviour, and often, staff members referred to thoughts, questions, and doubts that were playing in their head.

Parenting Behavior in Mothers of Preschool Children with ASD: Development of a Self-Report Questionnaire

Parents of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encounter many daily challenges and often experience much stress. However, little research exists about parenting behavior among these parents. With this study, we aim to address this gap. We examined the structure and internal consistency of a questionnaire intended to measure parenting behavior among mothers of young children with ASD. Furthermore, we compared parenting behavior among mothers of young children with and without ASD between two and six years old. Factor analyses resulted in a factor solution with seven subscales of parenting behavior. Two additional subscales especially relevant for parenting preschoolers with ASD were also considered. Analyses of covariance, controlling for gender and age, showed significantly higher scores for Discipline and Stimulating the Development in the control group in comparison with the ASD group. These findings suggest that mothers of preschoolers with ASD are still trying to find strategies to guide and stimulate their childs behavior and development effectively.