Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is a person-centred approach used for supporting people with learning disabilities. Additionally, PBS provides a framework that seeks to understand the context and meaning of behaviour to inform the development of supportive environments and skills that can enhance a person’s quality of life. Its overarching goal is to improve the quality of a person’s life as well as the lives of those around them. This encompasses children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly.
Evidence has shown that PBS-based approaches can enhance quality of life and reduce behaviours that challenge which in turn can lead to a reduction in the use of restrictive interventions. PBS is considered to provide an individual, their family, and friends with the correct assistance to let them live a meaningful life and gain new skills without being restricted in any way. It’s not just about getting rid of bad habits; it’s also about how to respond in a crisis.
PBS provides a conceptual framework which recognizes that people may engage in behaviours that are challenging because: They have challenging or complex needs that are not being met. These could be associated with unusual needs and personal preferences, sensory impairments, or mental or physical health conditions.
Staff are encouraged to use a positive and proactive approach to foresee potential triggers for behaviours of concern and reduce the prospects of or avoid the need for restraints to be used.
Restraint Reduction Network has provided training standards that are deemed suitable for use within mental health and learning disability settings. Using the Training Standards in an accredited certification scheme will minimise the number of episodes restrained is needed and assist to ensure that when restraints are unpreventable it is done in a dignified and safer manner.