School Staff’s Experiences and Coping Related to the Challenging Behaviour of Children with Smith-Magenis Syndrome in Schools: A Q Methodological Study

Figures & data

Table 1. Fisher balanced block design, N = 40.

	Extrovert	Introvert	School Staff Experiences
Alone	6 statements	6 statements	12 statements
With other students	6 statements	6 statements
Various	4 statements

Table 2. School staff characteristics.

Staff Code
1 – Special Education Teacher Female student
2 – Teacher Assistant Male student
3 – Unknown profession Female student
4 – Special Education Teacher Male student
5 – Special Education Teacher Female student
6 – Teacher Female student
7 – Teacher Assistant Female student
8 – Teacher Assistant Male student
9 – Special Education Teacher Male student
10 – Special Education Teacher Male student
11 – Unknown profession Male student
12 – Other school staff Male student
13 – Other school staff Male student
14 – Special Education Teacher Female student

Figure 1. Grid used during Q sorting.

Table 3. Statements and factor scores, including consensus and distinguishing statements.

No	Statements	Factor arrays
		1	2
1*	The student has a mature emotional development (behaves similar to other people his/her own age).	−4	−5
2	The student often sits quietly by him/herself.	0	−4
3*	The student has a lot of creativity.	0	0
4*	The student has good humour.	3	3
5*	The student is rarely sleepy and tired during the day.	−2	−2
6	The student self-injures by hitting, scratching, or biting.	4	1
7*	The student self-stimulates or has repetitive behaviour (spins or pushes on things repeatedly or asks the same questions repeatedly).	4	3
8*	The student is polite and social.	3	2
9	Sometimes, I am really tired of my job.	−4	2
10*	The student is good at technical things.	1	2
11*	The student has mastered ‘conquer and divide’ techniques.	1	1
12	The student does not care for other people (students or adults).	−2	−1
13*	I think it is just ok to be spat on.	−3	−1
14	I think it is demanding to be alone with the student.	−1	4
15*	The student has good impulse control.	−3	−4
16*	The student does not help other people.	0	0
17	The student has bad and insulting language.	0	−2
18	The student works well with other students of the same age.	0	−2
19	I have not experienced the student getting angry at school.	−5	−1
20	The student can be experienced as very intense.	2	5
21*	The student knows which ‘buttons’ to push.	3	4
22*	The student is rarely afraid in new situations and when meeting new people.	0	0
23	I never get provoked by the student.	−1	2
24*	I experience that it is difficult to divert the student’s attention to something else.	1	1
25*	The student has a stable mood.	−2	−3
26	The student works with and concentrates on academic work over time.	1	−4
27	The student never gets angry with screaming, kicking and hitting.	−5	−3
28	The student cooperates well with other students in group activities.	−1	−3
29	I am not sure what to do in difficult situations.	−2	0
30	Working with the student is challenging in a good way.	5	1
31	The student is not preoccupied with adults.	−3	−5
32	I know what to do when the student self-injures.	2	−1
33*	I think it is difficult to watch when the student self-injures.	1	1
34	The student never destroys things at school.	−1	−2
35	The student has good long-term memory.	2	0
36*	It is positive to work with the student.	5	4
37*	The student demands constant attention.	2	5
38*	I know what to do if the student displays challenging behaviour.	4	3
39	I think it is scary when the student gets angry or loses control.	−4	0
40*	I think it is easy to explain to the other teachers about the student and how to handle situations.	−1	−1

Statements in italics are consensus statements non-significant at p < 0.01, and statements also flagged with an * are also non-significant at p < 0.05. (statements not in italic are distinguishing statements (variance across factor z-scores)).

Table 4. Factor loadings with an X indicating a defining Q sort.

Staff Code	Factor 1	Factor 2
1SETF	0.2673	0.5504X
5SETF	0.7113X	0.3926
4SETM	0.7095X	0.2106
3UF	0.4205	0.7488X
2TAM	0.8568X	0.2148
6TF	0.6856X	0.4224
7TAF	0.2871	0.6258X
8TAM	0.8100X	0.2290
9SETM	0.7064X	0.1447
10SETM	0.8043X	0.2794
11UM	0.8387X	0.2205
12OM	−0.0207	0.7438X
13OM	0.6232X	0.3637
14SETF	0.6788X	0.1271

SET: Special Education Teacher, T: Teacher, TA: Teacher Assistant, O: Other school education, U: Unknown profession,

F: Female student with SMS, M: Male student with SMS

Table 5. Characteristic statements and scores for the two viewpoints.

	Factor 1: Managing challenging aggressive and self-injury behaviours in school	Factor 2: Struggling with intense non-physical challenging behaviours
Positive side of the grid	30. Working with the student is challenging in a good way (+5)* 36. It is positive to work with the student (+5) 6. The student self-injures by hitting, scratching, or biting (+4)* 7. The student self-stimulates or has repetitive behaviour (spins or pushes on things repeatedly or asks the same questions repeatedly) (+4) 38. I know what to do if the student displays challenging behaviour (+4)* 21. The student know which ‘buttons” to push (+3) 4. The student has good humour (+3) 8. The student is polite and social (+3)	20. The student can be experienced as very intense (+5) 37. The student demands constant attention (+5) 21. The student knows which ‘buttons’ to push (+4) 36. It is positive to work with the student (+4) 14. I think it is demanding to be alone with the student (+4) 7. The student self-stimulates or has repetitive behaviour (spins or pushes on things repeatedly or asks the same questions repeatedly) (+3) 4. The student has good humour (+3) 38. I know what to do if the student displays challenging behaviour (+3)
Negative side of the grid	13. I think it is just ok to be spat on (−3) 15. The student has good impulse control (−3) 31. The student is not preoccupied with adults (−3)* 1. The student has a mature emotional development (behaves similar to other people his/her own age) (−4) 39. I think it is scary when the student gets angry or loses control (−4)* 9. Sometimes, I am really tired of my job (−4)* 19. I have not experienced the student getting angry at school (−5)* 27. The student never gets angry with screaming, kicking and hitting (−5)*	25. The student has a stable mood (−3) 27. The student never gets angry with screaming, kicking and hitting (−3) 28. The student cooperates well with other students in group activities (−3) 26. The student works with and concentrates on academic work over time (−4) 2. The student often sits quietly by him/herself (−4) 15. The student has good impulse control (−4) 1. The student has a mature emotional development (behaves similar to other people his/her own age) (−5) 31. The student is not preoccupied with adults (−5)

Asterisk (*) indicates significant at p <.01, for the distinguishing statements for factor 1.