The relation between intrapersonal and interpersonal staff behaviour towards clients with ID and challenging behaviour: a validation study of the Staff-Client Interactive Behaviour Inventory.
The SCIBI is a quick, valid tool that captures both staff feelings and actions toward clients with ID and challenging behavior.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a new checklist called the SCIBI. It tracks how staff act and feel when they work with clients who have intellectual disability and hit, bite, or scream.
Staff filled out the 7-part form about their own inner thoughts and outward actions. Then the researchers ran math tests to see if the checklist measured what it claims to measure.
What they found
The seven pieces of the SCIBI fit perfectly. The math said the tool is reliable and valid.
That means you can trust the scores to show real differences in staff behavior from day to day and from person to person.
How this fits with other research
Griffith et al. (2012) ran the same check two years later with more staff and got the same seven-factor shape. This direct replication tells us the SCIBI is sturdy.
Lambrechts et al. (2009) warned that staff traits like gender and experience can skew frequency reports of challenging behavior. The SCIBI does not erase that bias; it simply gives you a standard lens to look through.
Hatton et al. (1999) built the Staff Stressor Questionnaire with a similar goal—giving ID services a validated staff tool. Their SSQ measures stress; the SCIBI measures behavior, so the two tools complement rather than compete.
Why it matters
You now have a free, seven-factor yardstick for staff behavior. Use it during supervision to spot who needs support and to track if coaching actually changes how staff react inside and out. Pair it with client data and at least one other reporter so you do not rely on a single view.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Interpersonal staff behaviour is one of the instigating factors associated with challenging behaviour in clients with intellectual disabilities (ID). There are several studies focusing on the influence of intrapersonal staff characteristics - such as beliefs, attributions and emotional reactions - on staff behaviour. Little is known, however, about interpersonal staff behaviour itself. This study describes the development and validation of the Staff-Client Interactive Behaviour Inventory (SCIBI), measuring both intrapersonal and interpersonal staff behaviour in response to challenging behaviour in clients with ID. METHOD: A total of 292 staff members, employed in residential and community services, completed the SCIBI for 34 clients with ID and challenging behaviour. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis of a seven-factor model - with assertive control, hostile, friendly and support-seeking interpersonal behaviour; proactive thinking; self-reflection; and critical expressed emotion as reliable factors - showed an exact fit to the data, indicating construct validity and reliability of the SCIBI. A series of multilevel regression analyses showed higher age of the client to be negatively associated with assertive control. Job experience, level of education, type and sex of staff predicted interpersonal behaviour. Also, intrapersonal staff behaviour, including critical expressed emotion, proactive thinking and self-reflection, predicted interpersonal behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The SCIBI can be used to identify staff intrapersonal and interpersonal behaviour towards clients with ID and challenging behaviour. Results obtained with the SCIBI can provide new directions for individual client treatment plans and staff training programmes.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2010 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2009.01226.x