| Abstract: | Correspondence to Carol Hayden, ICJS, St. George’s Building, 141 High Street, Portsmouth PO1 2HY, UK. E-mail: carol.hayden{at}port.ac.uk Summary This article presents one part of the findings of an ongoingstudy that set out to investigate and explain the extent ofchallenging behaviour in twenty-one social service run day andresidential services in one large county authority in England.This part of the study reports on staff perceptions of problematicbehaviour from service users. It uses staff reports of levelsof problematic behaviour as indicative of potentially challengingbehaviour. The study uses an adapted version of an establishedinstrument, the BPI (Behaviour Problems Inventory), as a surveytool completed by staff for all service users in a one-monthperiod (January 2000). The findings of this exercise are basedon 1,390 service users, near to a census at the time of thesurvey. The study shows ‘non-compliance’ to be themost problematic and prevalent behaviour from the point of viewof staff. Overall the research illustrates a split between themajority of service users who present staff with problematicbehaviour in a relatively minor to moderate way and a smallgroup of individuals (less than 2 per cent) who present muchmore extreme behaviour. Brief reference is made to other datacollected in the study when it helps in the interpretation ofthe behaviour patterns identified by the BPI. |
