Two people holding handsPeople with learning disabilities might find it challenging to understand new or complex information and/or learn new skills. The experience of having a learning disability is different for every person, whereby some people may need more support throughout their life than others. Studies note that approximately 10%-25% of people with learning disabilities display aggressive challenging behavior.
In the first workstream, we looked at previous interventions for aggressive challenging behavior and developed theories to see what works, for whom and in what circumstances. We also conducted qualitative interviews to explore the facilitators and barriers to therapy outcomes. During the third workstream, we developed the personalized therapy through co-production meetings with adults with learning disabilities and family carers while integrating findings from the first two workstreams above.
The fourth workstream will evaluate whether the PETAL therapy is effective at reducing aggressive challenging behavior and cost-effective test in a randomized controlled trial across England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. We will also explore how the therapy can be implemented into routine care.While speaking to family carers and adults with learning disabilities they said the following: