ABSTRACT

The Empowerment Behavioural Management Approach (EBMA) is a novel neuropsychological rehabilitation methodology developed by the authors for managing challenging behaviour in people with acquired brain injury in community settings. Behaviour modification can be successful in regulating dysexecutive behaviours in highly controlled inpatient environments, but it is hard to maintain the requisite consistency in community settings. EBMA starts from the premise that everyone exists within a system, and all members of the system are interdependent to achieve homeostasis. EBMA acknowledges that the client's narrative may be distorted by organic brain dysfunction and/or psychiatric symptoms. In accordance with cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), EBMA assumes that these conditions make the client prone to a misinterpretation of 'reality', as the system perceives it. In addition, the client's loss of life roles due to disability triggers feelings of disempowerment and low self-esteem.