The Checklist of Challenging Behaviour and its relationship with the Psychopathology Inventory for Mentally Retarded Adults.
The 32-item CCB lines up with mental-health scores and offers a fast way to map challenging behavior in adults with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a 32-item checklist that tracks self-injury, aggression, and other tough behaviors in adults with intellectual disability.
They then compared the new tool, called the CCB, with an older mental-health screen (PIMRA) to see if the scores move together.
What they found
CCB scores rose and fell with PIMRA scores, showing the checklist captures real emotional trouble, not just random acts.
The authors say the CCB is ready for everyday use; no numbers on how well it spots change over time are given.
How this fits with other research
Prasher et al. (1995) came first with the Reiss Screen, a 38-item tool that also showed good reliability in large ID homes.
Guest et al. (2013) later tested the French PAS-ADD Checklist and found lower sensitivity (55 %) than the English version, warning that brief screens can miss cases—something to watch with the CCB too.
Cheves et al. (2026) flipped the script with the OWLS-ID, letting adults with ID report their own distress instead of using staff reports; together these papers trace a line from staff-only (CCB) toward self-report, showing the field keeps pushing for more voice from clients.
Why it matters
If you need a quick snapshot of problem behavior before writing a behavior plan, the CCB gives you 32 yes-or-no items that line up with mental-health risk. Pair it with a tool like PAS-ADD or Reiss if you want deeper psychiatric detail, and keep an eye on new self-report options for higher-functioning clients.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The Checklist of Challenging Behaviour (CCB) was developed to survey the prevalence of challenging behaviour among people with intellectual disability. It describes 32 behaviours, and data are collected on the frequency, management difficulty and severity of these states. The present paper reports on the relationship between challenging behaviour (as measured by the CCB) and mental health (as measured by the Psychopathology Inventory for Mentally Retarded Adults). In addition, it discusses the differences between the two groups of clients used in the study, i.e. hospital and community subject groups, in terms of challenging behaviour and mental health.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 1998 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.1998.00131.x