The role of relational work in promoting safe community participation by people with mild intellectual disabilities and severe challenging behaviour living in residential facilities

Background: Promoting the level of community participation by people with mild intellectual disabilities who exhibit severe challenging behaviour is complex due to a variety of safety issues. Method: This qualitative study explored what residential facilities for people with intellectual disabilities as well as their external stakeholders do to promote safe community participation, taking feelings of safety of service users and their environment into account. Interview and focus group data from professionals of residential facilities and stakeholders from the police and municipality were thematically analysed, resulting in the identification of two main themes. Results: The first theme concerns taking risks responsibly together, by identifying, weighing up, and managing risks, whilst the second pertains to residential facilities and stakeholders’ ongoing efforts to change the perceptions and attitudes of the public and each other. Overall, the significance of relational work in promoting safe community participation was found. Conclusions: Residential facilities and external stakeholders should invest in strengthening their relationship.