10 Chapter 1 “The only constant in life is change” – Heraclitus. The concept of change has fascinated people since time immemorial. Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus argued that change is fundamental to the nature of reality, famously stating that one can never step into the same river twice. At the time, Heraclitus’ views challenged the works of Parmenides, who argued observable change to be deceptive because he considered the true nature of existence as static. This ancient debate between static and dynamic perspectives still resonates in modern social sciences. The degree to which one perceives reality as static or dynamic influences research methodologies, the interpretation of data, and the development of theories about human behavior. This dissertation more closely aligns with Heraclitus' dynamic perspective. No two people are fully identical, no two days are fully identical, and therefore no person is fully identical to who they were yesterday. The question remains: how should change be studied empirically? This dissertation describes different ways to study how and why problem behaviors change over time, focusing solely on young people who are diagnosed with a mild intellectual disability and receive specialized care. This is a specific group of people and a specific care setting for whom the study of change is especially relevant. I will therefore start this general introduction by describing the people that this dissertation is about and the care setting in which the research is situated. After that, this general introduction will proceed to the overarching topic of this dissertation: different ways of studying change. Young people with a mild intellectual disability With an example, I would like to describe a day in the life of Kevin, a fictitious (yet realistic) youngster living in a residential care facility specialized for mild intellectual disability. This example aims to illustrate three key features of this dissertation: 1) the care setting that this dissertation's research concerns, 2) the clinical relevance and difficulty of understanding problem behavioral change, and 3) that conclusions about change can differ substantially when drawn at the group- versus the individual level.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw