The management of aggression care plans: implementation and efficacy in a forensic learning disability service

Abstract

This article describes the design and implementation of the management of aggression care plans (MOACAP) in a secure service for people with learning disability and severe challenging behaviour. The MOACAP is a five‐part document, which has sections for descriptions of challenging behaviour, escalation patterns of the behaviour, non‐physical interventions, physical interventions and post‐incident briefing.Preliminary evaluations suggest that use of MOACAP leads to a reduction in aggressive incidents in the service. The approach should also be relevant to other forensic, mental health and challenging behaviour services and brain injury units. The MOACAP may also be relevant to services that will be affected by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) guidelines on the short‐term management of disturbed (violent) behaviour.