Attending to debriefing as post-incident support of care staff in intellectual disability challenging behaviour services: An exploratory study

Background: The psychological welfare of the workforce who support people with intellectual disabilities who present challenging behaviour is key in providing effective positive behavioural support. This workforce has consistently been identified as being vulnerable to experiencing poor psychological wellbeing. Debriefing after incidents is consistently recommended as good practice, despite the absence of clear guidance about the nature of the debrief and an adequate evidence base. Method and materials: A case study is presented in relation to a group debrief in which the critical incident stress management (CISM) model was carried out for six staff involved in a serious incident. Staff were assessed prior to the debrief and in a two-month follow up using the impact of events scale – revised (IES-R) (Weiss and Marmar, 1997). Results: Worryingly high IES-R scores for four of the staff were found prior to the debrief. At two-month follow up all staff scores had reduced to levels below the cut-off for clinical concern. Conclusions: Implications from the analysis of this case study are discussed in relation to general support and, specifically, post incident support offered to staff in intellectual disability services.