Staff reports of setting events associated with challenging behavior.
Use a quick staff inventory to uncover the unique setting events that predict challenging behavior for each client.
01Research in Context
What this study did
McGill et al. (2003) asked staff to list events that happened right before clients showed challenging behavior. They used a short interview called the Staff Setting Event Inventory.
All clients had intellectual disability. The study did not test an intervention. It simply recorded what staff noticed.
What they found
Staff named many different triggers. Each client had a unique pattern. One person acted out only after crowded lunches. Another became upset if the bus arrived late.
The same event could help one client and hurt another. No single trigger fit everyone.
How this fits with other research
McGill et al. (2005) repeated the same survey two years later and saw the same idiosyncratic results. The 2005 study focused on adults, showing the pattern holds across age groups.
Kennedy et al. (1993) took the next step. They removed morning setting events in a school and problem behavior dropped all day. Peter’s inventory gives you a fast way to find those events.
Symons et al. (2005) studied eight children with Cornelia de Lange syndrome and also found one-of-a-kind triggers. Together these papers prove you must assess each person separately.
Why it matters
Stop guessing about "common triggers." Run the five-minute staff inventory at intake and after any big change. Circle the two or three events staff mention most for that client. Build your behavior plan around those idiosyncratic setting events, not around generic lists.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study identified the setting events reported by caregivers as more and less likely to be associated with challenging behaviors of people with intellectual disabilities. Sixty-five staff working with 22 individuals were interviewed using a setting event inventory. Some setting events (e.g., being in a crowded room) were reported as strongly associated with challenging behavior, some (e.g., one-to-one support) as strongly associated with its absence. Some (e.g., day of week) were reported to be largely "inert"; many were idiosyncratically associated with occurrence, absence, or inertness. Different categories of setting events contributed different amounts to reported variation in challenging behavior. The inventory described here, or modified versions, may help identify relationships between setting events and challenging behaviors. The relationships reported in this study suggest ways in which service provision might be modified to help prevent challenging behavior.
Behavior modification, 2003 · doi:10.1177/0145445503251604