Treatment and management of challenging behaviours in congregate and noncongregate community-based supported accommodation

Objectives To compare the nature and prevalence of use of procedures employed to treat and manage challenging behaviours across two approaches to providing community‐based supported accommodation for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) and severe challenging behaviour: noncongregate settings where the minority of residents have challenging behaviour, and congregate settings where the majority of residents have challenging behaviour. Setting Community‐based supported accommodation for people with ID and challenging behaviour. Design Longitudinal matched groups design. Main outcome measures The nature and prevalence of use of procedures employed to treat and manage challenging behaviours. Observed and reported severity of challenging behaviours. Results Both types of settings were associated with low prevalence of use of behavioural technologies for the reduction of challenging behaviour (less than 15% of participants). In contrast, high proportions of participant received antipsychotic medication in both noncongregate (56%) and congregate (80%) settings. Congregate settings were associated with the increased use of physical restraint as a reactive management strategy, with over half of participants being in receipt of physical restraint by two or more members of staff. Discussion Changes in reported and observed challenging behaviour over a 10‐month period were slight. The use of evidence‐based behavioural technologies for the reduction of challenging behaviour may have led to better outcomes.