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Clinical Psychologists need to draw on knowledge of psychological models which help to understand challenging behaviour, and to have experience of applying these models.
Such models are relevant to a number of different client groups, (for example people with learning disabilities older adults, some AMH services and forensic work). It is useful to hold in mind three core principles in order to work effectively with challenging behaviour:
1) That you need to take into account a person's unique strengths and needs, and their unique social context in order to understand someone whose behaviour is challenging services
2) That a psychological assessment and intervention for challenging behaviour must include consideration of three elements:
- the person
- his or her environment
- the behaviours which are challenging
- and the interaction between these elements..
3) That work with people presenting with challenging behaviour should follow a coherent cycle, comprising pre-assessment, assessment, formulation, intervention and evaluation of effectiveness. This is a cyclical process, with new information refining the formulation and making the intervention more focused and effective.
Following on from this last point competence in this area includes:
| An ability to derive a formulation congruent with ethical principles |
| An ability to use the formulation to decide on the nature of intervention (e.g. whether it is reactive to reduce harm or proactive to extinguish or reduce a particular challenging behaviour). |
| An ability to implement appropriate Interventions (e.g. behavioural interventions to change the function of a behaviour, or 1-to1 interventions with the person where the person has capacity to engage in this) |
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An ability to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific intervention in terms of:
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The Faculty for Learning Disabilities has issued good practice guidelines on work with people with challenging behaviour . This contains more detail about the above and relates specifically to this client group. .The full guideline can be found at: