Towards Understanding Aggressive Behavior in Residential Care Facilities Using Process Mining

People with intellectual disabilities often live in residential care facilities that aim to provide their clients with the best possible quality of life. Aggressive behavior forms a threat to not only the quality of life of the clients, but also the safety of the staff. This study aims to uncover the dynamics underlying the evolution of aggressive behavior in people with intellectual disabilities. We take a process mining approach to analyze patterns of aggressive behavior. More specifically, we analyze data from 1,115 clients from a Dutch residential care facility over a period of three years. Our results show that there are two different groups of cases: those exclusively showing the same type of aggressive behavior and those who show mixed types of aggressive behavior. What stands out is that physical aggression towards other people plays a key role in the patterns of aggressive behavior. The results were validated with a behavioral expert from the care organization.