Managing challenging behaviour in mental health in-patient units

There have been various attempts to define challenging behaviour. Definitions tend to emphasise the effect of behaviours upon the safety of self and others, at different levels of risk.

The severity of the risk caused by the behaviour will dictate the kind of management and supervision necessary for the patient. In this module, we look at the different service models available to ensure the behaviours are managed effectively.

We also provide an overview of the main psychological approaches to understanding challenging behaviour and how they can be synthesised to provide a more effective overall approach.

In the course of this module, we aim to answer the following questions:

• What is challenging behaviour in the context of mental health problems?

• What are the different types of challenging behaviour?

• What are the causes of and maintaining factors for challenging behaviour?

• What are the psychological ways of managing patients with challenging behaviour?

Start the module