Positive Behaviour Support Meaning
Positive behaviour support is a person-centred framework created to improve the quality of life of people with complex care needs through a number of proactive strategies. These strategies are used to identify and prevent the potential triggers of behaviours of concern but also to improve the social and living skills of people with complex care needs.
Positive behaviour support focuses on strength-based practices that aim to promote independence and active engagement of the individual in the home and social environment. By identifying people’s strengths, skills and talents, we encourage individuals to participate in a number of activities that add purpose and value to their life but also improve the physical and mental well-being of the individual.
PBS strategies are based on several key principles that are part of the positive behaviour support framework. We will explain each principle separately, explaining why each strategy delivers the best results.
Principles of Positive Behaviour Support PBS
When discussing the principles of positive behaviour support, it’s essential to emphasise that all of them are based on understanding a person’s behaviour. Once we identify a person’s individual needs, we design tailored PBS plans aligned to their needs, focused on proactive rather than reactive strategies.
Read more about the fundamental principles of positive behaviour support and the impact it can make in people’s lives.
Person-Centred Approach
A person-centred approach is an important element of PBS. Placing the individual at the centre of their care plan prioritises their well-being and provides a sense of purpose and control for the person in need.
Person-centred care involves the active participation of people and their family in designing the care process and in making decisions about what they like or dislike in daily life routines. This can significantly help in preventing potential triggers of challenging behaviour and improve the quality of life of the individual and their family.
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is based on fostering a person’s skills and talents to promote active engagement in different activities, hobbies, and voluntary or paid jobs. With positive reinforcement, people can enjoy doing things they like and add purpose to their life and the community.
Constant engagement in activities that a person enjoys also reduces the risk of exhibiting behaviour that challenges and improves social communication.
Partnership and Teamwork
Partnership and teamwork are important elements of a PBS strategy. The idea of this concept is to shift from ‘working for’ to ‘working with’ to create an environment of mutual respect.
The partnership and teamwork strategy empowers building strong and trustworthy relationships between support workers and people with learning disabilities, Autism, and complex care needs. Through PBS, we encourage people to gain trust in other people and the community, improving social communication and perception of the outer world.
Assessment-Based Intervention
Assessment-based intervention is also a fundamental element of positive behaviour support. The principle involves individual assessment of the person’s behaviour, the biological and physical factors, as well as psycho-social elements of the individual.
When completing a thorough assessment, our team creates a PBS plan tailored to the needs and preferences of the individual. The plan is based on implementing proactive strategies to prevent potential crisis situations or triggers that might cause strong emotional reactions within the person.
Assessment-based intervention helps to:
- Identify and understand the trigger or the unmet need resulting in challenging behaviour
- Create and implement concepts for the positive behaviour support plan
- Observe and adapt the support plan based on the person’s individual needs
When creating the PBS plan, it’s important to include the individual and their family members in the decision-making and cooperate in the care and support process.
Being Preventative, Not Reactive
One of the most important goals of positive behaviour support is to develop and use proactive and preventative strategies to reduce challenging behaviour and the use of restrictive practices. These practices aim to identify and prevent any kind of trigger or stimulation that can lead to challenging behaviour.
Examples of positive strategies include:
- Adapting environmental settings
- Building supportive relationships
- Creating opportunities to choose
- Building new skills and talents or fostering existing ones
- Creating structured routines
Proactive and preventative strategies are crucial in providing support and reducing restrictive practices.
Outcome-Based Approach
The outcome-based approach is part of positive behaviour support that focuses on achieving the individual’s personal goals. The strategies used in the outcome-focused approach are to increase self-awareness and build a person’s identity to promote independence and a better quality of life. An outcome-based approach is beneficial for people with a learning disability, Autism, and complex care needs.
The outcome of positive behaviour support is observed through a person’s behaviour over time and the success of a person achieving their goals. Additionally, the purpose of PBS is not only to implement the strategies but also to achieve a positive outcome for the individual and their family.
How Unique Community Services is Applying the Principles of PBS
Unique Community Services provides tailored professional and humanised services for complex care needs. We are dedicated to supporting people with learning disabilities, Autism and mental health needs, as well as individuals that exhibit challenging behaviour.
Unique Community Services has in-house PBS teams that provide person-centred services to the people we support and their families. All clinicians are trained in PRO-ACT SCIPr, a proactive and compassionate approach to behaviours that challenges and prevent the use of restrictive practices.
Contact our offices to learn more about positive behaviour support and how we can support you or a loved one.
