Background: Staff explanations about challenging behaviours of people with intellectual disabilities are purported to play a significant role in the way they respond to them. Despite attempts made in research to understand the mechanisms of causality, a lack of association between attributions, emotions and behaviours is reported. This study investigates these relationships within a broader framework including attributions in the transactional stress model of Lazarus and Folkman. Method: A qualitative design has been selected; semi-structured interview format was used in order to investigate implication of attributions in stress regarding Weiner's model of helping behaviour. A case study method has been adopted to allow consideration of ecological data, a case study representing a special encounter with a challenging behaviour. Categorical analysis was conducted. Results: The results suggest three main issues. First, it appears that Weiner's model is too restrictive in order to explain the complexity of contextualised encounters. Second, a need to differentiate types of attributions within a temporal perspective is highlighted. Finally, consideration of the coping role of attributions is suggested. Conclusions: A need to extend the research concerning attribution is suggested. The insertion of research into ecological contexts and the introduction of coping concept regarding staff attributions of challenging behaviours would allow a broader view of the role of attributions.