Revealing interdyad differences in naturally occurring staff reactions to challenging behaviour of clients with severe or profound intellectual disabilities by means of Clusterwise Hierarchical Classes Analysis (HICLAS)

ConNEcT: An R package to build contingency measure-based networks on binary time series

Dynamic networks are valuable tools to depict and investigate the concurrent and temporal interdependencies of various variables across time. Although several software packages for computing and drawing dynamic networks have been developed, software that allows investigating the pairwise associations between a set of binary intensive longitudinal variables is still missing. To fill this gap, this paper introduces an R package that yields contingency measure-based networks (ConNEcT). ConNEcT implements different contingency measures: proportion of agreement, corrected and classic Jaccard index, phi correlation coefficient, Cohen's kappa, odds ratio, and log odds ratio. Moreover, users can easily add alternative measures, if needed. Importantly, ConNEcT also allows conducting non-parametric significance tests on the obtained contingency values that correct for the inherent serial dependence in the time series, through a permutation approach or model-based simulation. In this paper, we provide an overview of all available ConNEcT features and showcase their usage. Addressing a major question that users are likely to have, we also discuss similarities and differences of the included contingency measures.

Professionals' attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities who self-harm: A literature review

BACKGROUND

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2013) Guidance on Self-Harm states that professionals supporting people who self-harm should demonstrate compassion, respect and dignity. This literature review examines the evidence for professionals' attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities who self-harm.

METHOD

Four databases (PsychInfo, IBSS, CINAHL and Medline) were systematically searched to find relevant research since 2000.

RESULTS

Four studies met the criteria. Attitudes of professionals supporting people with intellectual disabilities are contrasted with those of professionals in settings focused on supporting people without intellectual disabilities. Professionals supporting people with intellectual disabilities tended to display attitudes and attributions reflective of biobehavioural and psychosocial theories of self-harm, with a greater emphasis on relationships.

CONCLUSION

Much more research is needed which examines the attitudes of professionals supporting people with intellectual disabilities who self-harm.

Looking back, looking forward: Methodological challenges and future directions in research on persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

BACKGROUND

Within the context of the Special Interest Research Group (SIRG) on Persons with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities (PIMD), researchers often discuss the methodological problems and challenges they are confronted with. The aim of the current article was to give an overview of these challenges.

METHODS

The challenges are centred on six topics. These reflect the main components of a study's design: (a) participant demarcation, (b) participant recruitment, (c) data collection and instruments, (d) data analysis, (e) ethics/including the "voice" of persons with PIMD and (f) theoretical models.

RESULTS

Next, to describing the specific challenges, possible solutions and pathways to address them are discussed. These are illustrated by recent studies by the authors and other researchers in the field.

CONCLUSIONS

The current contribution wants to stimulate further discussion and exchange of ideas, and the development of creative research techniques.

[Intellectual disabitily, challenging behavior, and care: A systematic literature review]

Introduction and background : People with intellectual disabilities present difficult behaviors, also called problem behaviors or challenging behaviors.Objective : The objective of this study was to describe the state of knowledge in nursing about challenging behaviors in people with intellectual disabilities.Methodology : We performed a systematic literature review based on the use of the keywords "challenging behavior," "intellectual disability," "nurs*," and "problem behavior" on the PubMed and Web of Science websites between 2008 and 2018.Results : Individuals with intellectual disabilities frequently present challenging behaviors, which can give rise to the abuse of psychotropic medication. These behaviors are also stressful for staff. Solutions in terms of staff training exist, as well as assistance in the identification of associated diagnoses that may sometimes be responsible for challenging behaviors. No publications in French on this topic were found.Conclusion : Nurses who work with people with intellectual disabilities should be encouraged to become involved in research so that they can contribute to developing knowledge on challenging behaviors and improve the quality of their care. This will also enable them to further develop their collaboration within the multidisciplinary team in order to promote good practice in terms of the management of challenging behaviors and in particular in terms of promoting a move away from prescribing psychotropic drugs.

Towards a framework in interaction training for staff working with clients with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour

BACKGROUND

Training support staff in dealing with challenging behaviour in clients with intellectual disabilities (ID) is needed. The goal of this study is to determine which elements need to be incorporated in a training on staff interactions with these clients, building upon a framework and an interpersonal model. As in functional analysis, this study tests the influence of client interpersonal behaviour, three types of staff reactions to challenging behaviour, two types of staff psychological resources and staff team climate on four styles of staff interpersonal behaviour.

METHOD

A total of 318 support staff members completed a questionnaire on staff interpersonal behaviour for 44 clients with ID and challenging behaviour, as well as seven questionnaires on client interpersonal behaviour, staff emotions, attributions, self-efficacy, self-reflection, coping styles and team climate. The influence of these seven factors on four staff interpersonal behaviours was examined using multilevel multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS

Friendly-warm and dominant client interpersonal behaviour had a significant positive impact on friendly and assertive control staff behaviour, respectively. Also, there was a strong influence of staff negative and positive emotions, as well as their self-efficacy, on most of the staff interpersonal behaviours. Staff self-reflection, insight and avoidance-focused coping style had an impact on some staff interpersonal behaviours. Staff team climate only predicted higher support-seeking staff behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS

In conducting a functional analysis of staff interpersonal behaviour, the results of this study can be used both as a framework in staff-client interaction training and in clinical practice for treating challenging behaviour. The emphasis in training and practice should not only be on the bidirectional dynamics of control and affiliation between staff and clients, but also - in order of importance - on the impact of staff emotions, self-efficacy, self-reflection and insight, coping style, team climate and attributions on staff interpersonal behaviour.