BELIEFS AND EMOTIONAL-REACTIONS OF CARE STAFF WORKING WITH PEOPLE WITH CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR

Information collected in the context of a survey of all people with le arning disabilities and challenging behaviour in a single metropolitan borough indicated: (I) care staff report that a significant proportio n of their colleagues usually display such emotional reactions as sadn ess, despair, anger, annoyance, fear and disgust to episodes of challe nging behaviour; (2) respondents reported that the most significant so urces of stress associated with caring for someone with challenging be haviour centred upon the 'daily grind' of caring, their difficulty in understanding the person's behaviour, the unpredictability of the beha viour and the apparent absence of an effective way forward; (3) care s taff attribute the causes of the person's challenging behaviour to a d iversity of internal psychological, broad environmental, behavioural a nd medical factors. These results are discussed in relation to their i mplications for staff-seeking and implementing external advice regardi ng the management of challenging behaviour.