Social climate and aggression in IDD services
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIDOB-11-2018-0013 |
| Pages | 8-18 |
| Date | 11 March 2019 |
| Published date | 11 March 2019 |
| Author | Joanne Emma Robinson,Leam Craig |
| 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 |
Social climate and aggression
in IDD services
Joanne Emma Robinson and Leam Craig
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to adapt a social climate measure for use withina forensic intellectual
and developmental disabilities (IDD) service and examine perceptions of social climate and the links with
patient aggression across three levels of security.
Design/methodology/approach –Four staff participated in a focus group to discuss how the Essen
Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES) could be adapted for IDD patients. Subsequently, a pilot study with
three patients highlighted some difficulties in administering the adapted measure. Alterations in the
administration of the measure were implemented with a further ten patients residing across three levels of
security. The EssenCES was adapted to include more visual prompts to assist in the patients’completion of
the measure. The frequency of aggressive incidents in each of the three settings was also collated.
Findings –Statistical analysis revealed a non-significant trend where positive social climate ratings increased as
the security level decreased. There was a significant difference in the frequency of aggressive incidents across the
three levels of security; however, there were no significant relationships found between the questionnaire ratings
and the frequency of incidents.
Research limitations/implications –The results lacked statistical power due to the low number of
participants. Further studies with adapted social climate measures need to be conducted to assess the
implications of social climate on individuals with IDD in secure forensic services.
Originality/value –The study adapted and piloted a social climate measure for individuals in a forensic
IDD service.
Keywords Forensic, Aggression, Secure services, Social climate, Adapted social climate measures,
Intellectual and developmental disability
Paper type Research paper
Background
Social climate has been defined by Wright (1993) as the long-standing characteristics of a
particular setting which impact upon the people residing/working within that setting. Research
has found that certain aspects of the environment within secure services can influence individual
perceptions of the quality of the environment. Furthermore, the quality of staff-patient
relationships is noted to contribute to the emotional stability of patients in forensic mental health
settings (Fish and Culshaw, 2005). Conversely, a “poor”social climate has been found to be
associated with aggression (Meehan et al., 2006).
The importance of understanding and measuring the impact of social climate in secure forensic
services has become increasingly relevant. Enabling environments have been developed to enhance
staff practices and aid the rehabilitation of individuals, for example, psychologically informed planned
environments (PIPEs; Turley et al., 2013). The quality of staff-inmate relationships has been found to
contribute to a more positive social climate. Turley et al. (2013) found that offenders’relationships
with other offenders and staff improved after the introduction of a PIPE model, although the extent to
whichPIPEscanimprovetheenvironmentandoffenders’behaviour is still uncertain. While efforts to
establish positive and therapeutic environments have been developed in mainstream prison settings
(Akerman et al., 2017) less attention has been paid to secure forensic settings for people with
intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD; American Psychological Association, 2013).
Received 4 November 2018
Revised 24 December 2018
Accepted 3 January 2019
The authors wish to thank all the
patients and staff who participated
in the study, without whom the
research would not have been
possible. The authors received no
financial support for the research,
authorship and/or publication of
this paper. The authors declared
no potential conflicts of interest
with respect to the research,
authorship and/or publication of
this article.
Joanne Emma Robinson is
based at the Forensic
Psychological Services, South
Staffordshire and Shropshire
Healthcare NHS Foundation
Trust, Stafford, UK and Centre
for Forensic and Criminological
Psychology, University of
Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Leam Craig is based at the
Forensic Psychology Practice
Ltd, Sutton Coldfield,
Birmingham, UK; Centre for
Forensic and Criminological
Psychology, University of
Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
and School of Social Sciences,
Birmingham City University,
Birmingham, UK.
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JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR
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VOL. 10 NO.1 2019, pp. 8-18, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8824 DOI 10.1108/JIDOB-11-2018-0013
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