Keep Safe: the development of a manualised group CBT intervention for adolescents with ID who display harmful sexual behaviours
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIDOB-10-2017-0023 |
| Published date | 12 March 2018 |
| Pages | 49-58 |
| Date | 12 March 2018 |
| Author | Aida Malovic,Rowena Rossiter,Glynis Murphy |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities,Offending behaviour,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Deviant behaviour,Education,Special education/gifted education,Emotional/behavioural disorders |
Keep Safe: the development of a
manualised group CBT intervention for
adolescents with ID who display harmful
sexual behaviours
Aida Malovic, Rowena Rossiter and Glynis Murphy
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to focus on the development of Keep Safe, a manualised group
intervention for adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) who display harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) as the
initial phase of a feasibility study. National reports have highlighted the need for the development of specialist
programmes, as adolescents with ID make up a significant proportion of young people referred to
specialist HSB services and there is a lack of evidence or practice-based interventions for them. Aims
included taking account of adolescents’and families’needs, motivations and practical commitments,
integrating best- practice and being accessible and appropriate across different types of services.
Design/methodology/approach –Keep Safe development progressed from the practitioner/researcher
collaborative young sex offender treatment services collaborative-ID through a project team, Keep Safe
development group, comprising a range of practitioners with a variety of clinical expertise across services and
an Advisory Group of people with ID. An expert-consensus methodology based on the Delphi method was
used. The iterative process for the manual draws on the slim practice-based evidence from UK,
New Zealand, North America and Australia.
Findings –Keep Safe comprises six modules distributed through 36 term-time young people’s sessions,
alongside 16 concurrent parental/ carer sessions (some joint). The main focus of Keep Safe is to enhance
well-being and reduce harm. Four initial sites volunteered as feasibility leads, and two more were added as
recruitment was more difficult than foreseen.
Originality/value –National reports have highlighted the need for the development of specialist
programmes, as adolescents with ID make up a significant proportion of young people referred to
specialist HSB services and there is a lack of evidence or practice-based interventions for them. This study is
innovative and valuable given the recognition that research and practice is significantly lacking in this area.
Keywords CBT, Intervention, Adolescents, Delphi method, Harmful sexual behaviours, IDD
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Children and young people have been reported to commit up to 30-35 per cent of all known sex
offences and it has been found that those with intellectual disabilities (ID) are over-represented
amongst these perpetrators (Almond et al., 2006; O’Callaghan, 1998; Hawkes et al., 1997;
Hackett et al., 2013). The exact proportion of young people who display harmful sexual
behaviours (HSBs) and who also have ID is unknown, with studies reporting figures ranging
between 4 and 40 per cent (Hayes, 1991; Veneziano and Veneziano, 2002; Gross, 1985),
though some have proposed figures as high as 44-80 per cent (Dolan et al., 1996; Epps, 1991;
Hawkes et al., 1997; Boswell and Wedge, 2004). The largest UK study, Hackett et al. (2013),
found 38 per cent of the sample of 700 children and young people who had shown HSB had
learning disabilities.
Received 9 October 2017
Revised 9 October 2017
Accepted 9 November 2017
Aida Malovic is a PhD
candidate and Lecturer,
Rowena Rossiter is a
Consultant Clinical
Psychologist/Honorary
Research and Glynis Murphy is
a Professor, all at the University
of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
DOI 10.1108/JIDOB-10-2017-0023 VOL. 9 NO.1 2018, pp. 49-58, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN2050-8824
j
JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR
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