“Connectedness” between people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour and support staff: Perceptions of psychologists and support staff

Abstract

The tacit practical knowledge of psychologists and support staff to foster a real connection between support staff and people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour was explored. Therefore, six dyads comprising individuals with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour and their support staff were video recorded during joint engagement in an activity. To tap into the implicit knowledge of professionals about when staff have ‘a real connection’ with a person with an intellectual disability, 10 psychologists and 10 support staff were asked to pinpoint these moments in the pre-recorded video compilation. They also shared their interpretations about what they considered to be a real connection. The results displayed that participants designated real connections as occurring when they noticed concrete interactions taking place. Based on thematic analysis of the data, four themes were identified that encapsulated what professionals deemed to be a real connection. In conclusion: joint engagement in an activity appears to be a context that fosters opportunities for real connection. Furthermore, support staff should adopt a sensitive attitude and create a safe atmosphere, to establish real connections.

Impact of the Care and Coercion Act on recorded involuntary care in intellectual disability care: a time‐series analysis

“…2019) and Triple‐C (Tournier et al . 2020, 2022) may be implemented and evaluated on their effects on involuntary care. Besides these treatment models, several interventions have been developed to actively reduce involuntary care (Embregts et al .…”

“…It is also important to provide support staff with additional training and supervision and to create a work environment that is adapted to the needs of people with IDs and challenging behaviour, to change their practice and reduce the use of involuntary care. Treatment-models such as positive behaviour support (Gerrard et al 2019) and Triple-C (Tournier et al 2020(Tournier et al , 2022 may be implemented and evaluated on their effects on involuntary care. Besides these treatment models, several interventions have been developed to actively reduce involuntary care (Embregts et al 2019;Schippers 2019;Bekkema et al 2021) in line with the CCA.…”