Here are questions and answers that other delegates have asked. You can ask a question yourself by emailing pbs@positive-response.co.uk

I cannot access the quiz.

The link for the quiz was updated in July 2022. If you have been given a printed workbook it may still have the old link. Go to the webpage for delegate materials and click on the workbook. This version has the latest link and also a QR code.

The support plans for people using our service all look the same- is that a problem?

It almost certainly is. If that’s the case, it’s either suggesting that there are some fundamental aspects of the service that routinely are setting up and setting off behaviours of concern (which would mean that effort has to go into identifying what these are and taking appropriate corrective action) or that behavioural assessments are not sufficiently individualised and person-centred.

It’s not really right to compare me occasionally losing my temper with some of the behaviours that I see in our service- they’re completely different.

In some ways that’s true- and we explained this in unit 1 (having another look at slide 7 might be helpful)- but what’s more important is the fact that that behaviours of concern amongst the people we support and our own ‘difficult’ behaviours are explained by the same model. They occur for the same reasons. Understanding our own behaviour helps understand the behaviour of those we support.

Don’t unchangeable personal risk factors risk factors mean that you can’t really change challenging behaviour?

Research indicates that it’s changeable risk factors – notably those related to the environments that people are supported in- that have much more influence. So, by making sure that we provide support based on the PBS model, we can have a huge impact on both improving people’s quality of life and their distressed behaviours.

Doesn’t defining challenging behaviour as being a challenge to services take away individual reasons for people showing aggression, self-injury etc?

Not at all-people may have personal characteristics or experiences that make it more likely that they will behave in a challenging way. The definition just stresses that it’s the job of services to meet the needs of different individuals in the best ways possible- a skilled, competent service will be able to do so; poor quality services won’t and will find even fairly low level behavioural concerns hard to manage.

The support plan for the people we work with are mostly reactive. How do we change that?

It sounds like your plans are a bit stuck. If you start applying the PBS model and carrying out good functional behavioural assessments with the people you work with, preventative strategies should start to leap out at you. This will enable you to start redressing the balance between reactive and preventive approaches. Start with one person and see where that takes you.

The ABC model seems a simplistic way of explaining human behaviour. 

Simple models are often the best models- and this one has stacks of research behind it to prove its value. It’s also not that simple! It involves three kinds of variables that contribute to behaviour, allows for the importance of both external and internal events (thoughts, feelings, ideas) on how we behave as well as very different types of outcome (reinforcement, extinction and punishment).

I’m finding it had to distinguish between fast and slow triggers for the person I support. What would you suggest?

It sometimes can be- have another look at the slides on this and how they separate the two. But, don’t worry too much about it- it’s the concept that’s important. The key thing is to try and identify all the antecedents that set up and set off the person’s behaviours of concern- whether they’re ‘slow’ or ‘fast’ is a lesser consideration.

New questions will be added at the top – check again soon!