Hastings R P, Tombs A K H, Monzani L C, Boulton H V N
School of Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor, UK.
J Intellect Disabil Res. 2003 Jan;47(Pt 1):59-67. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2788.2003.t01-1-00456.x.
Caregivers' emotional and cognitive reactions to challenging behaviours have been identified as potential determinants of their reinforcing responses towards such behaviours. However, few studies have explored factors affecting caregivers' emotional and cognitive responses to challenging behaviours.
Sixty students inexperienced in work with people with challenging behaviours and 60 experienced staff watched one of two carefully matched, acted videotapes depicting self-injury maintained by attention or escape-from-task demands. The participants were also told whether the self-injury depicted typically led to mild or severe consequences for the person filmed. The subjects completed measures of their negative emotional reactions to the self-injury and their behavioural causal beliefs about the behaviour depicted.
Analyses of variance revealed that students reported more negative emotional reactions and were less likely to endorse behavioural causal hypotheses. Those who watched the severe self-injury videotape also reported more negative emotional reactions. Two effects of the behavioural function of the depicted self-injury were also found: (1) attention-maintained self-injury was associated with higher levels of endorsement of behavioural causal hypotheses; and (2) severe attention-maintained self-injury led to the strongest negative emotional reactions, but only from students.
The effects of experience and behavioural function on emotional reactions and behavioural causal beliefs need to be explored in more detail in future research. If replicated, the present results have significant implications for theory and practice in the remediation of challenging behaviours and the support of care staff.
照顾者对挑战性行为的情绪和认知反应已被确定为他们对这类行为强化反应的潜在决定因素。然而，很少有研究探讨影响照顾者对挑战性行为情绪和认知反应的因素。
60名没有与有挑战性行为的人打交道经验的学生和60名有经验的工作人员观看了两段精心匹配的、表演的录像带中的一段，录像带描绘了因寻求关注或逃避任务要求而维持的自我伤害行为。参与者还被告知所描绘的自我伤害行为通常会给录像中的人带来轻微还是严重的后果。受试者完成了对自我伤害行为的负面情绪反应测量以及对所描绘行为的行为因果信念测量。
方差分析显示，学生报告的负面情绪反应更多，并且不太可能认可行为因果假设。观看严重自我伤害录像带的人也报告了更多的负面情绪反应。还发现了所描绘的自我伤害行为功能的两个影响：（1）因寻求关注而维持的自我伤害行为与更高程度地认可行为因果假设相关；（2）严重的因寻求关注而维持的自我伤害行为导致最强烈的负面情绪反应，但仅在学生中如此。
经验和行为功能对情绪反应和行为因果信念的影响需要在未来研究中更详细地探讨。如果得到重复验证，目前的结果对挑战性行为矫正及照顾人员支持方面的理论和实践具有重要意义。
