Thinking about challenging behavior: a repertory grid study of inpatient staff beliefs.
Staff hold widely different private views of the same client—check each view before training.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Julian and colleagues asked inpatient staff to describe clients who show challenging behavior. They used a tool called the repertory grid. Each staff member compared clients and listed personal labels like "needy," "manipulative," or "lonely."
The study stayed in the hospital. No one tried to change behavior. The goal was to map how staff truly see the people they support.
What they found
Every staff member produced a unique grid. No two people shared the same set of labels. The team could not find one "typical" view of challenging behavior.
In short, staff construals are highly individual. Averaging them would erase important detail.
How this fits with other research
Andrade et al. (2014) extends this idea. Their Clusterwise HICLAS of video data also found distinct staff-client interaction styles. Both studies say the same thing: treat each dyad as unique.
Poppes et al. (2016) looked at causal attributions in profound ID. Staff again showed little agreement, backing the current finding that consensus is weak.
Hastings (1997) offers an apparent contradiction. That paper gave us the CHABA scale, a tidy questionnaire that averages attribution scores. Hare et al. (2012) warn us those averages may hide more than they reveal.
Why it matters
Stop assuming your team sees the client the same way you do. Before writing a behavior plan, ask each staff member, "What words pop into your head when you think of this person?" Write the unique labels down. Use them to tailor coaching, not to blame. When supervision honors individual construals, staff feel heard and plans become more precise.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Studies examining staff attitudes toward people with intellectual disability have traditionally used pre-determined categories and models or been open to researcher bias. The use of methods derived from personal construct psychology permits an objective investigation of staff views and attitudes without such limitations. Fourteen staff from an inpatient intellectual disability service were interviewed about their perceptions of clients with challenging behavior primarily using the repertory grid technique as developed from personal construct theory. Staff was found to construe their clients and their behaviors in a heterogeneous manner that was not readily reducible to a group average, and they did not make or use attributions about them in a consistent manner. Future research should incorporate work culture and the staff-client relationship. The results have implications for clinical decision making, team working, and clinical supervision.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-50.06.468