Behavioural knowledge, causal beliefs and self-efficacy as predictors of special educators' emotional reactions to challenging behaviours.
Special-ed teachers feel more upset by challenging behavior when they believe behavior has clear causes yet doubt their own skills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked special-ed teachers about their own thoughts and feelings. They wanted to know what predicts how upset staff get when kids show tough behaviors.
Teachers filled out a survey. It measured their behavior knowledge, causal beliefs, and self-efficacy. Then it linked these scores to how angry or stressed they felt.
What they found
Staff who believed behavior has clear causes felt more upset. Staff who felt confident and knew behavior tools felt less upset.
Odd twist: the more qualified teachers reported the strongest negative emotions.
How this fits with other research
Keintz et al. (2011) extends this view. They show that these same negative feelings later turn into full burnout. Target the emotion early and you may stop burnout later.
Doughty et al. (2002) is a conceptual replication. They also find that teacher self-efficacy shapes classroom stance. One paper looks at feelings, the other at inclusion attitudes.
Higgins et al. (2021) widens the lens. In telehealth parent training, similar factors raise parent confidence. Low self-efficacy hurts adults no matter who they are.
Rutherford et al. (2003) looks at carers, not teachers. High expressed emotion leads to stress, just like strong causal beliefs do here. Both studies say: change the adult's view, not just the child's behavior.
Why it matters
You can measure staff self-efficacy in five minutes. Add a quick belief check during supervision. When scores are low, give bite-size behavior tools and celebrate small wins. This cheap step cuts the anger that fuels burnout later on.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Start your next teacher meeting with a two-question self-efficacy scale, then pick one strategy they feel unsure about and model it on the spot.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Theoretical models and emerging empirical data suggest that the emotional reactions of staff to challenging behaviours may affect their responses to challenging behaviours and their psychological well-being. However, there have been few studies focusing on factors related to staff emotional reactions. Seventy staff working in educational environments with children with intellectual disability and/or autism completed a self-report questionnaire that measured demographic factors, behavioural causal beliefs, behavioural knowledge, perceived self-efficacy, and emotional reactions to challenging behaviours. Regression analyses revealed that behavioural causal beliefs were a positive predictor, and self-efficacy and behavioural knowledge were negative predictors of negative emotional reactions to challenging behaviours. Staff with formal qualifications also reported more negative emotional reactions. No other demographic factors emerged as significant predictors. The results suggest that behavioural causal beliefs, low self-efficacy and low behavioural knowledge may make staff vulnerable to experiencing negative emotional reactions to challenging behaviours. Researchers and clinicians need to address these issues in staff who work with people with challenging behaviours.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2002 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.2002.00378.x