Getting To(wards) Know(ing) Together: An Innovative Collaborative Approach in Residential Care for People with (Severe) Intellectual Disabilities and Behaviour That Challenges

Gustaaf F. Bos (), Vanessa C. Olivier-Pijpers and Alistair R. Niemeijer
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Gustaaf F. Bos: Department of Care Ethics, University of Humanistic Studies, Postbus 797, 3500 AT Utrecht, The Netherlands
Vanessa C. Olivier-Pijpers: Care Organization Ipse de Bruggen, Postbus 7027, 2701 AA Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Alistair R. Niemeijer: Department of Care Ethics, University of Humanistic Studies, Postbus 797, 3500 AT Utrecht, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 9, 1-28

Abstract: People with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities (M/S ID) and behaviour that challenges are still almost exclusively encountered and understood within a highly specialized professional care system context. They are almost invisible in the societal mainstream, where a wider variety of perspectives on (everyday) manners, encounters, relationships and life applies. These (and other) exclusionary dynamics render everyday relations with residents with M/S ID whose behaviours challenge still largely dependent on the interpretative frameworks and actions of professionals. Professionals are trained and socialized within highly specialized professional care system contexts, despite a growing scientific and professional awareness that behaviour that challenges is a multifaceted and contextual phenomenon. In this paper, we report on a pioneering initiative (titled Project WAVE) which aimed to cultivate a fresh and comprehensive approach to behaviours that challenge within stagnant care practices. Our goal was to foster an innovative collaborative paradigm by facilitating an extensive and enduring exchange between “insiders”—professionals of specialized care system contexts—and “outsider-researchers”—individuals socialized through alternative avenues. We present our epistemological and methodological approach, the data collection process (a multiple case-informed community of practice), and the most important lessons learned.

Keywords: intellectual disabilities; challenging behaviour; highly specialized residential care; socialisation; insider-outsider; stagnant care practices; complexity; collaborative research; community of practice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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