Evaluating an assertive outreach team for supporting clients who present behaviour that challenges

Abstract

Accessible summary• Some people with a learning disability have behaviours that are hard for services to cope with. • This study looked at a team that tried to help these people to stay in their own homes instead of having to move to a different area. • The study looked at the good things about the team and things that could be better. • We found that the team helped the services to support people in a different way, so that there were fewer behaviours which were hard to manage. SummaryThis article evaluates an assertive outreach team which aimed to help support people with a learning disability who displayed challenging behaviour in their own environment. The service was evaluated using Maxwell's Multi-dimensional Quality Evaluation Model (Maxwell 1984), which recognises that different stakeholders in a service are likely to focus on different indices of quality including effectiveness, efficiency, economy, equity, access to services, appropriateness and social acceptability. The main strengths of the team were staff skills and professionalism, whereas the most frequently cited weaknesses centred around issues of liaison, communication and the role and remit of the team.

An exploratory study of Behavioural Specialist experiences of involving service users in the development of their positive behavioural support plans

“…Clinicians needed to be creative and inclusive in their approach enabling families, carers and services to fully participate. These findings are consistent with previous research indicating specialist teams with professional expertise often provide a service to those with the most severe, enduring and complex behaviours that challenge (Ingram and Lovell, 2011; McKenzie and Paterson, 2010). Literature has shown that individuals who are placed out of area are frequently more challenging than other populations in residential care (Beadle-Brown et al, 2006).…”

Clinical needs and outcomes of adults with intellectual disabilities accessing an inpatient assessment and treatment service and the implication for development of community services

“…Additionally, developing services to support people with multiple and complex needs requires teams of multidisciplinary professionals to work in an integrated and collaborative way (Hall et al, 2006; Outhwaite, 2003). The absence of these features was identified by Mckenzie and Paterson (2010) in their description of a new assertive outreach team for people with ID and challenging behaviour. Their team was not multidisciplinary, so often services were sought from other teams (e.g.…”