The Scale of Momentary Effect

A tool for measuring episodic severity during behavioural crises

Despite behavioural crises impacting quality of life for people with intellectual disability, there is an overall lack of research on the use of reactive strategies to manage the episodic severity of these events.

Understanding the interaction between reactive strategy choice and the severity level of aggression (either prior or subsequent to the strategy initiation) is vital to understanding both the efficacy and ethics of strategy choice.

To this end, the research team is adapting and testing the Scale of Momentary Effect Severity originally published by Spicer and Crates (2016), which could act as a standardised measure for the sector.  The goal is to encourage organisations to collect data which will benefit their clients and staff, and act to create a greater understanding of the effects of strategy choice on outcomes through standardised sector-wide data.