Premium
‘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
Author(s) -
McKenzie Karen,
Murray George C.,
Martin Rachel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 1360-2322
DOI - 10.1111/jar.12859
Subject(s) - thematic analysis , context (archaeology) , distress , workforce , intellectual disability , psychology , qualitative research , challenging behaviour , covid-19 , quality (philosophy) , nursing , applied psychology , medical education , medicine , clinical psychology , psychiatry , sociology , political science , paleontology , social science , philosophy , disease , epistemology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , biology , law
Background We used a qualitative approach to explore the experiences of social care staff regarding the provision of positive behavioural support (PBS) to people with an intellectual disability at the height of the Covid‐19 restrictions. Method We conducted semi‐structured interviews with 19 staff who had recently completed a PBS workforce development programme. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Three themes were identified in the context of the restrictions: The challenges to maintaining quality of life and PBS of the people being supported and staff attempts to overcome these; the ways in which PBS and behaviour support plans were implemented and the impact on behaviours that challenge; the ways in which PBS principles were applied at organisational levels to help to understand and address staff stress and distress. Conclusions Overall, the staff identified many unexpected benefits of the restrictions. The results are discussed in the context of the study limitations.