With love, time and the right treatment, success can be achieved : To handle challenging behaviour with low arousal approach from a staff perspective

The aim with this study was to examine how care staff in 9 § 9 p LSS residence with special services experienced and worked with challenging behaviour based on a low arousal approach. The study was conducted by qualitative research through semi-structured interviews in a bigger municipality in southern Sweden. A total of seven care staff were interviewed. The results showed that the informants agreed that challenging behaviour is considered threat and violence in various forms, both physically and mentally. It is important to have knowledge of challenging behaviour in order to prevent potentially dangerous situations that could lead to harm for those involved. In nine out of ten cases, it is the staff’s fault that a behaviour occurs. This may be due to communications difficulties or the working group not working uniformly with the user. The informants agree that a low arousal approach is a good method for working with challenging behaviours. The informants work with it by following routines, evaluating events, adapting requirements to individuals and working uniformly. Most of the informants have worked with both low arousal approach and physical restraint measures, whereby they agree that the user responds better to the first-mentioned method. By the staff acting calmly, the user will be calm