Examining the use of Discovery Awareness in UK ID services: version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The use of Discovery Awareness in Intellectual Disability Services: Examining a European approach to challenging behaviour in a UK setting
IRAS ID
128237
Contact name
Alison Pilnick
Contact email
Research summary
This project will explore the use of Discovery Awareness (DA), a staff training technique being piloted in NHS settings in the East Midlands. DA uses video analysis of people with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) filmed in natural surroundings (e.g., home, day centre, respite care) in order to engender a more attuned staff team with a richer understanding of the person’s inner world. DA is designed to help staff understand the personhood of the individual with ID, to provoke a change in attitude through in-depth observation and to stimulate an interest in behaviour that may previously have been thought of as meaningless. This is intended to help strengthen interpersonal relationships between staff and people with ID which may result in the reduction of challenging behaviour.
Whilst DA is currently used the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia, it has yet to be used in England other than in the pilot setting. The importance of this study is to investigate and explore its use in an English setting, and to discover how applicable it may be in this context. This study will explore how Discovery Awareness (DA) sessions are structured and created by the people who participate in them. This will be done by filming the DA sessions and analysing the interactions of the participating staff members using Conversation Analysis . This study will also seek to highlight if these interactions create new insights about people with ID and how they were generated. In addition, individual interviews will be conducted with staff members who participated in DA sessions which will explore their experiences of using DA and their perceptions of its impact. Specifically this study will seek to identify any potential barriers to DA’s successful adoption to a wider context. Ultimately this study will address the following question: how does DA work in an English care setting?
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/EM/0418
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jan 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion