Although much research has focused on assessment centres, rather less has been done on development centres (DCs), and in particular on the eVects they have on participants. A study is reported of the impact of DC attendance on selfassessment made by 111 customer service staV. Participants rated themselves on the DC dimensions before and after attending, and these ratings were correlated with observers' assessments made at the DC. Results indicated congruence on only two out of 10 dimensions between observer-and self-assessments pre-DC, rising to six out of the 10 dimensions post-DC. Self-esteem also increased following attendance at the DC. Females showed more self-assessment accuracy than did males. Classifying the participants (pre-DC) into underraters, accurate raters and overraters showed that underraters became more accurate in their self-assessments post-DC whereas overraters did not; the latter group continued to have self-ratings signi cantly higher than observer ratings, and were unchanged in level of self-esteem. It is concluded that the DC studied has demonstrated its value as a process for increasing self-awareness for some but not all participants. The ndings are discussed in terms of their implications for both research and the application of DCs in practice.

Levels of challenging behaviour were studied in a sample of 16 people who moved from a hospital to community settings. Ratings on the Challenging Behaviour Scales showed that aggression to residents decreased significantly. Aggression to staff and self-injurious behaviour showed non-significant downward trends but destruction of objects continued at prior levels. The study concluded that caution needs to be taken in using rating scales, and results from them should always be backed up by other evidence.