The responses to challenging behaviour

The first technique when displaying challenging behaviour would be being calm and taking control of the situation. This is good but does not always work in severe conditions so that’s when other methods are put into place to prevent this challenging behaviour. Proactive methods are a good method to use, this is because you are trying to prevent the behaviour happening before it has even started, therefore stopping you and others around you getting hurt.

However these methods do not always work because service users can display this behaviour anyway by triggers that set them off even if we have tried to prevent them in the first place. Distraction is another proven method to prevent physical abuse from arising because most service users will be able to get distracted easier because of their short term memory, this is a useful strategy when service users show challenging behaviour such as swearing and shouting. This method has many strengths and positives, such as it doesn’t cause harm to anyone like service users.

However it doesn’t always work as service users can be so angry and not be able to take their mind off it. Another weakness is that it may not be the most relevant to use- if a service user is already becoming agitated so it probably won’t help if the staff member then tries to distract them. Restraint is an effective method because it stops the person straight away from hurting anyone; although this is only used in severe conditions it must still be followed safely otherwise it can be seen as abusive.

However there is legislation and guidelines to follow such as the Human Rights Act. The human right acts saying everyone has the right to prohibition of torture and some people would see restraint as a torture as it is not following the rights of the individual. Another technique is suggested is taking proactive methods to prevent challenging behaviour. This is a useful strategy because to stop less severe behaviours developing into much more serious behaviours, this can be done in such ways; tying hair up, not wearing jewellery and also wearing correct uniform and footwear.

This is a good strategy and has much strength such as the patient does not know you are doing it, does not invade patient’s personal space and does not need more than one staff member to help therefore saving staff time. As well as being a useful method it also had some weaknesses for example, even though it is a good method and saves time challenging behaviour can still be displayed towards others as it doesn’t prevent it fully.