Positive Behaviour Support

Purpose of Positive Behaviour Support Module

Positive Behaviour Support Model is designed to provide frontline staff with highly useable and practical skills to develop positive support plans for those with behaviour of concern.

How long is this programme?

This programme can be conducted over 4 or 5 days. When run as a 5 day programme course participants will complete a Functional Assessment Tool and develop a Positive Behaviour Support Plan during this programme.

The Positive Behaviour Support approach includes the:-

systematic gathering of relevant information using ABC charts
conducting a functional behaviour assessment using an easy practical to use template
designing support plans based on the findings of the Functional Analysis tool
Implementation and ongoing evaluation of the support plans which will occur within the environments where service users live and work
Immediate response strategies for the management of serious episodes of the behaviour will also be addressed,

While Positive behaviour support (PBS) is not a simple answer to the complex reasons why people show behaviours of concern there is a belief that the best behaviour support happens when the behaviour is not happening; hence the strong emphasis on proactive strategies.

What PBS aims to do?

PBS is based on decreasing behaviours of concern and improving the person’s quality of life. Positive behaviour support planning tells us the best way to work with an individual who shows behaviours of concern and gives us ways to improve the quality of life for the person and does not just deal with behaviour, therefore it can add realistic goals for service users.

The programme helps organisations move away from the use of restrictive practices and move towards practices which are in line with HIQA standards, Safety and Health Act, The Charter of Human Rights and The Declaration of Human Rights.

Supports Organisations Compliance with HIQA Regulation 7 Positive behavioural support.

1. The person in charge shall ensure that staff have up to date knowledge and skills, appropriate to their role, to respond to behaviour that is challenging and to support residents to manage their behaviour.
2. The person in charge shall ensure that staff receive training in the management of behaviour that is challenging including de-escalation and intervention techniques.
3. The registered provider shall ensure that where required, therapeutic interventions are implemented with the informed consent of each resident, or his or her representative, and are reviewed as part of the personal planning process.
4. The registered provider shall ensure that, where restrictive procedures including physical, chemical or environmental restraint are used, such procedures are applied in accordance with national policy and evidence-based practice.
5. The person in charge shall ensure that, where a resident’s behaviour necessitates intervention under this Regulation—

1. 1. every effort is made to identify and alleviate the cause of the resident’s challenging behaviour;
  2. all alternative measures are considered before a restrictive procedure is used; and
  3. the least restrictive procedure, for the shortest duration necessary, is used.

Functional Assessment Tool

Throughout the programme the course participant will complete a functional assessment tool which is used to collate valuable information which informs our understanding of the person’s behaviour and provides vital information from which they can develop proactive and reactive responses to the person’s behaviour, which is consistent and within our humanistic value base.

Functional Behaviour Analysis

Functional Behavioural Analysis (FBA) is a reviewing relevant information about why they behave in the manner they do and helps us to understand how their diagnosis impacts on their daily lives and in particular, how the behavior is influenced by environmental factors or events that consistently predict or result from a person engaging in behaviour of concern.

Positive Behaviour Support Planning

Learn to develop a PBS Plan using the four types of strategies that constitute Positive Behaviour Support:

teach new skills
teach alternative skills to replace the behaviour of concern
change the environment
use the ABC model to increase desirable behaviour and decrease or prevent behaviour of concern

Target Group – Frontline staff in residential, day, respite or schools

Continuous Professional Development

CPD is any activity that contributes to a professional’s learning and development. It can be as diverse as completing a course, reflecting on work practices through supervision or researching a new technique or reading a related article. The activity (i.e. action) can be viewed as CPD, as long as it enables the Social Care Worker to apply this learning through reflection or practical application in their professional life.