Dealing with Patients with Behavioural Problems After Acquired Brain Injury: Nurses’ Experiences with the Antecedent Behaviour Consequence Method

Context: Behavioural problems are common after brain injury and can cause feelings of distress in the nursing staff, which can in turn have a negative influence on the behaviour of the patient. Nurses often do not feel they have the necessary skills to apply behavioural interventions in daily practise. They may benefit from the ABC (Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence) method. Objective(s): This study examined nurses’ impressions of the effects after implementation of the ABC method on a brain-injury ward. Method(s): This study is part of the long-term follow-up (LT-FU) of our longitudinal group intervention study. Nurses were asked to complete a questionnaire once at the time of the LT-FU. Outcome measures were based on the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). Descriptive statistics were used. Findings: After implementation of the ABC method, most nurses reported they perceived behavioural control, received social support, had few feelings of fear, and had confidence in the way they deal with behavioural problems. Moreover, nurses reported positive changes in all these topics since working with the method. Limitations: Although first findings are interesting, we must also underline that the absence of a baseline measurement is a shortcoming of the study. Implications: Training nursing staff in managing behavioural problems with the ABC method might give them more perceived control and decrease feelings of distress and fear. Further longitudinal research is needed to investigate these experiences of the nursing staff to examine whether this has a positive effect on their well-being, job-satisfaction, and the behavioural problems of patients.