Challenging behaviour and intellectual disabilities: the relationship between expressed emotion and staff attributions

Aim: To explore Expressed emotion (EE) and attributions toward challenging behaviour (CB) among a group of staff working within a residential and day service placement for people with ID.

Method: An attributional questionnaire and EE ratings based on five-minute speech samples were completed for 15 staff concerning their relationships with two clients, one with and one without CB. Attributional and EE ratings for the resultant groups were compared.

Results: Staff working with a client with ID and CB attributed the CB as internal to, and controllable by, the client. Staff reported high levels of EE and made more critical comments toward the client with CB than the client without CB. Staff who reported high EE attributed CB as internal to the client, external to the staff, personal to the client, controllable by the client and uncontrollable by the staff.

Conclusions: This study replicated the findings of Cottle et al., (1995). Staff working with a client with CB appeared to be making a ‘fundamental attribution error’. The relationship between EE and attribution theory is discussed. Attribution theory is hypothesised as providing some explanation for the development of high EE. Implications for the understanding of attribution theory within a cognitive-behavioural framework within the context of working with CB will be discussed.