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Jeffrey Chan and colleagues advocate adoption of the phrase 'behaviour of concern' to highlight the proper response of support staffto people with learning disabilities
Abstract
'Challenging behaviour' is often associated with a crisis-driven approach to service delivery in which behaviours are assumed to be inherent in the people who exhibit them. Because this approach can lead to labelling, stereotyping and diagnostic overshadowing, the authors of this article argue that the term 'challenging behaviour' should be replaced with 'behaviour of concern' to highlight the ideal response of support staffrather than the challenge they must overcome.
Keywords
Behaviour of concern, stereotyping, terminology
Language gives shape to people's thoughts, beliefs and emotions, and the language used to describe people with learning disabilities over the years has influenced how they have been viewed in wider society (Owen et al 2009). Researchers and practitioners trying to describe the presenting behaviours of people with learning disabilities have tended to highlight their disabling conditions rather than their experiences in full, and in doing so have inadvertently perpetuated stereotypes about, and prejudice toward, them (Foreman 2005, Fitzsimmons 2009).
To address such stigma or injustice, or to respond to emerging evidence, changes in terminology may occur. Like other terms related to disability, mental health, sexuality or race, that of 'challenging behaviour' has been redefined over time.
The meaning of 'challenging behaviour' derives from its two component words. 'Challenging' has been defined as something 'requiring full use of your abilities or resources', that is 'stimulating interest or thought' or 'disturbingly provocative', and as 'a call to engage in a contest or fight' (Princeton University 2006).
Behaviour has been described as an 'action or reaction of something under specified circumstances', as 'the way a person behaves toward other people' and as the 'aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism' (Princeton University 2006).
When used in the learning disability nursing profession, the term challenging behaviour has been defined as: 'Culturally abnormal behaviour of such an intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy; or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit use of, or result in the person being denied access to, ordinary community facilities' (Emerson 1995). Sigafoos...