Background: Positive behavioural support is increasingly viewed as the preferred service approach for people who challenge, but skills are insufficiently widespread. The need for effective staff training has been highlighted as a key factor in high quality service provision, with investigators recommending a multidimensional approach to increase…

Background: This study sought to gather information about the impact of extended training in positive behaviour support on staff knowledge, causal attributions and emotional responses. Methods: Students completed questionnaires at the beginning, middle and end of a University Diploma course to measure changes in their knowledge of challenging…

Background: A range of factors have been suggested as determinants of staff behaviour in the context of working with people with challenging behaviour. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a typical challenging behaviour staff training course had an effect on staff feelings of efficacy, their negative emotional reactions to…

Background: This study examines the extent to which a random sample of adults with intellectual disabilities possess the component skills necessary to undergo cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Method: Seventy-two individuals underwent a range of assessments, including measures of language ability, ability to identify and to label emotions,…

Background: Cognitive skills thought to be necessary to undertake cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) include the ability to recognize emotions, link events and emotions, and recognize cognitive mediation. These skills have been assessed in people with intellectual disabilities, but not in those who also have psychosis. Materials and methods:…

Background: There is a need to develop and adapt therapies for use with people with learning disabilities who have mental health problems. Aims: To examine the performance of people with learning disabilities on two cognitive therapy tasks (emotion recognition and discrimination among thoughts, feelings and behaviours). We hypothesized that…

Aims: Cognitive therapies are increasingly being offered by clinical psychologists to people with intellectual disabilities. This paper reviews some of the factors that influence people's readiness to engage in cognitive therapy. Literature review: Limited verbal ability, psychological-mindedness (particularly in relation to the understanding of…