“Look, all our hard work is paying off”: A qualitative evaluation of a system‐wide, workforce development model to promote positive behavioural support

Abstract

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The impact of COVID‐19 restrictions in the United Kingdom on the positive behavioural support of people with an intellectual disability

“…in relation to the areas outlined in Table 1. These areas have been found in previous research to be important in the context of PBS approaches, such as developing and implementing PBS plans, staff confidence in managing behaviours that challenge and applying knowledge in practice (e.g., MacDonald et al, 2018;McKenzie, Martin, et al, 2020). Ratings were from 1 = very negative to 5 = very positive.…”

“…The areas that were included have been found by researchers to be important in the context of PBS approaches, such as applying PBS knowledge in practice, developing PBS plans, implementing them in practice, and managing any behaviours that do occur with confidence (e.g. MacDonald et al, 2018; McKenzie, Martin, et al, 2020). As PBS aims to remove the need for the person to display behaviours that challenge, by providing functional alternatives, meaningful activities and improved quality of life (PBS Coalition UK, 2015), the impact on these areas was also measured.…”

“…The input was a mixture of face‐to‐face and online teaching, and workplace support and supervision were provided. The content included the topics of valuing people with an intellectual disability; gathering and using data; functional behavioural analysis; and behaviour skills training (see McKenzie, Martin, et al, 2020 for details). The programme was one aspect of a region‐wide workforce development approach, which aimed to improve the PBS practice of staff, with the ultimate goals of improving the quality of life and reducing the behaviours that challenge of the people with an intellectual disability whom they supported (McKenzie, McNall, et al, 2020).…”

‘It's been adapted rather than impacted’: A qualitative evaluation of the impact of Covid‐19 restrictions on the positive behavioural support of people with an intellectual disability and/or autism

“…This was designed to address areas that are key components of PBS (e.g. Gore et al, 2013) and which had been explored in the wider evaluation study (McKenzie, Martin, et al, 2020). It included questions about the impact of Covid-19 on the quality of life, activities, behaviours that challenge and relationships of the people with an intellectual disability who were being supported by the participants.…”

A quantitative evaluation of a regional Positive Behavioural Support workforce development approach

“…An initial qualitative evaluation of the impact of the wider PBS approach, based on feedback from a range of stakeholders (McKenzie, Martin, et al, 2020) found that it was seen as having resulted in many benefits for people with an intellectual disability, individual staff, teams and organisations. The reported benefits included improvements in staff practice and knowledge; the adoption of better staff recruitment, supervision and performance management approaches; a reduction in staff turn‐over and sickness and improved quality of life of the people being supported by the organisations.…”