Rp. Hastings et B. Remington, STAFF BEHAVIOR AND CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR - A REPLY TO CLEGGS COMMENTARY, British journal of clinical psychology, 33, 1994, pp. 445-450
In her commentary on our integration of the literature on challenging
behaviours and care staff behaviour (Hastings & Remington, 1994b), Cle
gg (1994) discussed three main issues. Firstly, she argued that a beha
viour analytic approach to challenging behaviours is 'deeply impoveris
hed'. Secondly, she claimed that our analysis laid the blame for chall
enging behaviours on the shoulders of care staff. Finally, she present
ed our philosophical position as objectivist. In this paper, we reply
to these comments by summarizing the richness and considerable potenti
al of an approach to challenging behaviours based on behaviour analyti
c theory. This summary serves to clarify the fact that we consider car
e staff behaviour, including actions that may contribute to the develo
pment and maintenance of challenging behaviours, to be under the contr
ol of environmental contingencies and verbal rules that are part of th
e service environment. We also describe briefly the nature of our phil
osophical approach to psychological research and inquiry.