Moral Positioning: Service User Experiences of Challenging Behaviour in Learning Disability Services

Several studies have indicated the importance of challengingbehaviour as a limiting factor on quality of life (Murphy et al., 1996;Brown and Thompson, 1997; Schwartz, 2003). This article presentsthe findings of research that aimed to investigate adults withlearning disabilities’ understanding and experiences ofwhat is perceived by staff and services to be challenging behaviour.This study was the final phase of research reported previouslyin this Journal (Hayden and Stevens, 2004). Interviews, groupdiscussions and observations were carried out with twenty-sixpeople with learning disabilities using social services’residential and day services. Participants were able to articulatecomplex responses about challenging behaviour, which is characterizedas a ‘moral web’: a complex network of antecedents,behaviours and consequences. Social care staff were seen byparticipants to play a key role: protecting people and ensuringthat appropriate (negative) consequences were suffered by instigatorsof challenging behaviour. These findings are interpreted withina positioning theory perspective, suggesting the importanceof understanding the ways that challenging behaviour is constructedthrough social interaction. Implications in the following areasare discussed: developing practice; the role of social carestaff; and the study of challenging behaviour as a social phenomenon.