Despite the effectiveness of positive behavior support (PBS) in reducing challenging behaviors, the availability of PBS for individuals with intellectual disabilities is limited in many countries including the Netherlands. Training care staff supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities in PBS may be a way to improve the provision of PBS. We aimed to explore the preliminary effectiveness of a PBS training for staff in reducing challenging behaviors of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Using a one group, double pretest–posttest design, 24 staff members involved in the care of 11 adult individuals with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviors participated. We assessed changes in challenging behaviors and quality of life of the individuals, in staff self‐efficacy in dealing with challenging behaviors, and in the use of restraints, using staff rated questionnaires, structured interviews, and medical files. At posttest, we found significant reductions in challenging behaviors, improved quality of life, and increased staff self‐efficacy, but no changes in the use of restraints. In contrast, no significant changes on any of the measures appeared between the two pretests. These findings suggest that a staff training in PBS may be effective for reducing challenging behaviors in individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Background Non‐pharmacological interventions are recommended for the treatment of challenging behaviours in individuals with intellectual disabilities by clinical guidelines. However, evidence for their effectiveness is ambiguous. The aim of the current meta‐analysis is to update the existing evidence, to investigate long‐term outcome, and to examine whether intervention type, delivery mode, and study design were associated with differences in effectiveness. Method An electronic search was conducted using the databases Medline, Eric, PsychINFO and Cinahl. Studies with experimental or quasi‐experimental designs were included. We performed an overall random‐effect meta‐analysis and subgroup analyses. Results We found a significant moderate overall effect of non‐pharmacological interventions on challenging behaviours ( d = 0.573, 95% CI [0.352–0.795]), and this effect appears to be longlasting. Interventions combining mindfulness and behavioural techniques showed to be more effective than other interventions. However, this result should be interpreted with care due to possible overestimation of the subgroup analysis. No differences in effectiveness were found across assessment times, delivery modes or study designs. Conclusions Non‐pharmacological interventions appear to be moderately effective on the short and long term in reducing challenging behaviours in adults with intellectual disabilities.

BackgroundStaff supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities are at risk of burnout symptoms. Evidence suggests an association between exposure to challenging behaviours of individuals with intellectual disabilities and burnout symptoms of staff, but the protective role of staff psychological resources in this relation has been understudied.MethodWe investigated the association between exposure to challenging behaviours and burnout symptoms of staff and the direct and moderating effects of several psychological resources. Staff (N = 1271) completed an online survey concerning burnout symptoms (subscale Emotional Exhaustion of the Maslach Burnout Inventory), exposure to challenging behaviours and a range of potential psychological resources. We examined main and moderating effects with multilevel analyses. In order to control for the multiple comparisons, P values corrected for false discovery rate (PFDR) were reported.ResultsWe found a direct relation between exposure to challenging behaviours and increased levels of burnout symptoms in staff (b = .15, t(670) = 4.466, PFDR < .0001). Perceived supervisor social support (b = −.97, t(627) = −7.562, PFDR < .0001), staff self‐efficacy (b = −.23, t(673) = −3.583, PFDR < .0001), resilience (b = −.19, t(668) = −2.086, PFDR < .05) and extraversion (b = −.20, t(674) = −3.514, PFDR < .05) were associated with reduced burnout symptoms. None of the proposed psychological resources moderated the association between exposure to challenging behaviours and burnout symptoms of staff.ConclusionsOf the psychological resources found to be associated with reduced risk of burnout symptoms, staff self‐efficacy and access of staff to supervisor social support seem to be the factors that can be influenced best. These factors thus may be of importance in reducing the risk of developing burnout symptoms and improving staff well‐being, even though the current study was not designed to demonstrate causal relations between psychological resources and burnout symptoms.