The authors of this study set out to evaluate behavioural and medication-based interventions in the treatment of challenging behaviour in people learning disabilities, both separately and in combination. They suggest that researchers might need to adapt the methods they have traditionally used to evaluate drug interventions for individuals without disabilities when working with people with [read the full story…]
This study set out to look at associations between psychiatric disorders in people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviours. The study used a large sample and controlled for sex, age, autism and degree of learning disability. The researchers used data from 47% of all people with learning disabilities who were known to and receiving services [read the full story…]
Antipsychotics are widely used for the management of behavioural problems in people with learning disability, despite concerns about the lack of a good evidence base for this practice (see Cochrane review) The researchers in this study set out to audit clinical practice of prescribing anti-psychotics against standards of good practice. The authors collected data from [read the full story…]
Physical factors can be a cause of some challenging behaviours in people with learning disabilities and this systematic review set out to determine what these conditions might be. The search covered the period 1990 and 2008and identified 45 studies. These looked at general medical conditions, motor impairment, epilepsy, sensory impairment, gastrointestinal disease, sleep disorders, dementia [read the full story…]
Antipsychotic medication is widely used to treat behavioural problems in people with learning disabilities. A Cochrane review of the use of these medications for this purpose found very few randomised controlled trials (a method of clinical research in which people are allocated at random to receive a clinical intervention, a placebo, or no intervention at [read the full story…]
This review of existing research looked at behavioural and psychiatric problems in people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a complex genetic disorder. The review found hyperphagia (compulsively overeating over a long period) compulsions/repetitive behaviour, self-injury (especially skin-picking), and aggressive behaviours to be common in people with Prader–Willi syndrome. The most frequently found psychiatric disorders were psychotic, affective, [read the full story…]
A key component in any strategic service development is the consultation to seek the views of service users. This can prove problematic when consulting with people with learning disabilities, but a group of researchers in Worcestershire set out to do this in preparing a local challenging behaviour strategy They identified people to be involved in [read the full story…]
Previous studies have reported that the use of applied behaviour analysis by a specialist team in addition to standard treatment for adults with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour was both clinically effective and cost-effective after 6 months. This study reported a 2-year follow-up of the same trial cohort. The study found that participants who were [read the full story…]
Training for staff supporting people whose behaviour is challenging is a crucial part of appropriate and consistent supports. This study set out to provide a pilot evaluation of development workshops with direct care staff supporting people described as having significant psychosocial difficulties. The staff teams attended a series of workshops which were designed to use [read the full story…]
This study explored which client characteristics might be related to outcome during inpatient treatment. The study looked at 87 people with mild learning disabilities who were receiving inpatient treatment for severe behavioural problems and found a decrease in emotional and behavioural problems within a 1-year period of inpatient treatment. The authors found that gender and [read the full story…]
