The Problem Behaviour Checklist: short scale to assess challenging behaviours

• Published in: BJPsych open Vol. 2; no. 1; pp. 45 - 49
• Main Authors: Tyrer, Peter, Nagar, Jessica, Evans, Rosie, Oliver, Patricia, Bassett, Paul, Liedtka, Natalie, Tarabi, Aris
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.01.2016; The Royal College of Psychiatrists
• Subjects: Behavior disorders; Short Report
• ISSN: 2056-4724; 2056-4724
• DOI: 10.1192/bjpo.bp.115.002360

Challenging behaviour, especially in intellectual disability, covers a wide range that is in need of further evaluation. To develop a short but comprehensive instrument for all aspects of challenging behaviour. In the first part of a two-stage enquiry, a 28-item scale was constructed to examine the components of challenging behaviour. Following a simple factor analysis this was developed further to create a new short scale, the Problem Behaviour Checklist (PBCL). The scale was subsequently used in a randomised controlled trial and tested for interrater reliability. Scores were also compared with a standard scale, the Modified Overt Aggression Scale (MOAS). Seven identified factors - personal violence, violence against property, self-harm, sexually inappropriate, contrary, demanding and disappearing behaviour - were scored on a 5-point scale. A subsequent factor analysis with the second population showed demanding, violent and contrary behaviour to account for most of the variance. Interrater reliability using weighted kappa showed good agreement (0.91; 95% CI 0.83-0.99). Good agreement was also shown with scores on the MOAS and a score of 1 on the PBCL showed high sensitivity (97%) and specificity (85%) for a threshold MOASscore of 4. The PBCL appears to be a suitable and practical scale for assessing all aspects of challenging behaviour. None. © 2016 The Royal College of Psychiatrists. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.