Staff variables associated with the challenging behaviour of clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities.
Staff feel worse when clients act out, but their thoughts don’t reliably guide their next move—so train feelings first.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lambrechts et al. (2009) asked 67 direct-care staff about the challenging behavior they saw each day.
Staff filled out short scales on what they thought caused the behavior, how they felt, and what they actually did next.
The team tested whether Weiner’s model—thoughts shape feelings, feelings shape actions—fit these real shifts.
What they found
Negative feelings rose when clients hit, screamed, or self-hit.
But the link between staff thoughts and staff actions was shaky; the same thought could lead to very different reactions.
So emotion showed up, yet it did not clearly steer what staff did next.
How this fits with other research
Eisenhower et al. (2006) saw the same shaky link one survey earlier: thoughts predicted feelings, but feelings did not predict willingness to help.
Griffith et al. (2012) extended the picture by showing thoughts and feelings do shape interpersonal style—adding a new outcome the 2009 paper did not test.
Cudré-Mauroux (2010) then used interviews to show staff thoughts change over time as a coping tool, hinting that the 2009 snapshot may miss this motion.
Together the set says: train staff to manage emotion first; trying to re-frame thoughts alone is not enough.
Why it matters
You can stop hunting for the perfect cognitive re-frame. Add brief emotion-regulation drills—box breathing, quick debriefs, paired praise—into daily supervision. When challenging behavior spikes, prompt staff to name the feeling out loud before they act. This small shift may cut escalation faster than another lecture on “why the client does it.”
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous 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 staff's behaviour. Another variable that has been associated with staff behaviour are staff's attributions regarding clients' challenging behaviour. The present study tested several hypotheses about associations between staff variables and challenging behaviour. METHOD: Questionnaires 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. RESULTS: Staff 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. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that there is a need to look for a better conceptualization and assessment of the variables under investigation.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2009 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2009.01162.x