Kent researchers from the Division of Law, Society and Social Justice: Dr Nick J Gore, Dr Suzi Sapiets, Dr Peter Barker and Dr Jill Bradshaw; were highly commended for the collaborative research excellence prize for positive behavioural support (PBS) for people with learning disabilities – A refined and updated definition for the UK.
Suzi says: “We co-created a revised definition of positive behavioural support (PBS) for people with learning disabilities, to capture developments of PBS implementation in the UK and guide future PBS delivery. To do this, we brought together a team of 24 contributors, each with special interests and experience in PBS, from a range of (sometimes-overlapping) groups, including: people with a learning disability, autistic people, people with a history of displaying behaviours that challenge, or people who are family carers.”
The revised definition was co-created over a period of 6+ months through a series of group workshops, individual discussions and several writing rounds, with meetings tailored to meet the individual preferences and requirements of each contributor: online group workshops, online discussions with individual contributors, discussions via email, and several revisions and comments to drafts between contributors. Key learning points and themes from discussions were synthesised and shared with group members for feedback and amendment, with drafts for the PBS definition and accompanying table of components shaped across a series of iterative rounds and collective edits.
The revised definition is the collective views and opinions of the contributors. We welcome ongoing discussions focused on the rights, needs and life quality of people with learning disabilities, and those key people who care, support and advocate for them.
Congratulations to Nick, Suzi, Peter and Jill on this achievement.