The Expanding Vision of Positive Behavior Support:Research Perspectives on Happiness, Helpfulness, Hopefulness
Abstract
Positive behavior support (PBS) represents an empirically driven concern with quality of life (QOL), support through systems change, and linkage to multiple behavioral, social, and biomedical sciences. The major impediments to QOL are problem behavior, skill deficits, and dysfunctional systems. A model for addressing dysfunctional systems is presented, and its relationship to issues of behavior maintenance and sustainability of intervention efforts is described. The expansion of PBS to new populations and venues will likely be facilitated by linking this field to other disciplines, including organizational management, community/ecological psychology, cultural psychology, biomedical science, and positive psychology. Such linkage will enhance the development of PBS conceptually, methodologically, and empirically, culminating in a more effective and unique applied science.