People with intellectual disabilities are at increased risk of developing challenging behaviour, defined by Emerson (2001, p. 3) as: culturally abnormal behaviour(s) of such an intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit use of, or results in the person being denied access to ordinary community facilities.Challenging behaviour includes physical aggression, problematic sexual behaviour, self-injury, destructiveness and stereotypical behaviour. These behaviours threaten the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities and those in their support systems and often lead to exclusion from society. People with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour are also at greater risk of ineffective treatment, abuse and high rates of restraint and medication (Allen, Lowe, Moore,This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
AbstractBackground: We examined the influence of the organizational environment on challenging behaviour in people with intellectual disabilities to increase understanding of the quality of support services for people with intellectual disabilities.Method: Twenty-one professionals and managers from four specialized Dutch disability service organizations were interviewed. Data were analysed with a grounded theory approach, using Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory as a sensitizing frame.
Results:The organizational environment (i.e., vision, values, sufficient resources) is related via the support service (i.e., providing stability, constant awareness) to residents' challenging behaviour and is also linked directly to challenging behaviour (e.g., living environment, values). Organizations are restricted by national regulations, negative media attention and changing societal values, which negatively influence quality of support.
Conclusions:The creation of a supportive organizational environment for staff, who in turn can provide quality support services to residents with demanding care needs, was found to prevent challenging behaviour in people with intellectual disabilities.
K E Y W O R D Schallenging behaviour, ecological theory, grounded theory, intellectual disability, organizational environment, service organization | 611