Background: This study sought to gather information about the impact of extended training in positive behaviour support on staff knowledge, causal attributions and emotional responses. Methods: Students completed questionnaires at the beginning, middle and end of a University Diploma course to measure changes in their knowledge of challenging behaviour, their causal attributions and their emotional responses. Results: Students' knowledge significantly increased across the three data points. Students became less likely to attribute challenging behaviour to emotional causes. Changes in respect of making more behavioural attributions varied across different measures. Negative emotional responses reduced especially those related to depression/anger. Conclusions: The training course presented here was associated with changes in student knowledge, attributions and emotional responses that are likely to be associated with better staff performance and better outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities.