The Essen Climate Evaluation Schema measure of social climate in a secure service for people with intellectual disabilities
| Pages | 171-178 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20441281211236562 |
| Date | 13 July 2012 |
| Published date | 13 July 2012 |
| Author | Marian Quinn,Cathy Thomas,Verity Chester |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care |
The Essen Climate Evaluation Schema
measure of social climate in a secure
service for people with intellectual
disabilities
Marian Quinn, Cathy Thomas and Verity Chester
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of the present study is to explore the psychometric properties of the EssenCES
measure (patient report) of social climate in a secure service for people with intellectual disabilities.
Design/methodology/approach – Patients (37 men, 14 women, Mean age ¼33.24 years, SD ¼11.29,
age range: 18-71 years) residing in a secure intellectual disabilities service completed the EssenCES as
part of routine clinical practice.
Findings – Reliability analysis revealed acceptable reliability for all three subscales (
a
¼0.76-0.88).
In order to consider one aspect of the construct validity of this measure, a predicted groupdifference
regarding the impact of security level on ratings of social climate was investigated. Analysis revealed
that social climate ratings were more positive on low secure wards than medium secure wards as
measured by the combined EssenCES subscales F(3, 31) ¼4.71, p¼0.008;
L
¼0.69;
h
2
¼0.31,
and the Experienced Safety subscale, F(1, 33) ¼7.41, p¼0.01.
Research limitations/implications – Future research should consider the link between social climate
and treatment outcome within forensic secure intellectual disability services.
Originality/value – Results provide preliminary evidence to suggest that the EssenCES subscales
(patient report) are reliable in this previously unconsidered population. However the validity of the
measure is still unclear and requires further investigation.
Keywords Social climate, Intellectual disability,Psychometrics, Reliability, Validity, Learning disabilities,
United Kingdom, Mental illness, Secure services
Paper type Research paper
Social climate in a secure intellectual disability service
Social climate refers to the interaction of aspects of the material, social and emotional
conditions of an environment which may – over time – influence the mood, behaviour and
self-concept of the persons in that environment (Schalast et al., 2008). Moos (Moos and
Houts, 1968; Moos, 1974) developed this concept and considered the social climate of a
ward as consisting of three implicit dimensions, namely: relationships, personal growth and
development, and system maintenance. Based on this conceptualisation, the social climate
of psychiatric wards and other treatment settings has frequently been hypothesised and
demonstrated to be an important factor in influencing patients’ wellbeing and treatment
outcome (Hansen and Slevin, 1996; Jansson and Eklund, 2002). The emergence of
evidence supporting the efficacy of treatment programmes with offenders (Day and Howells,
2002) has resulted in a renewed interest in considering the impact of therapeutic climate in
secure mental health services. In addition, the multifactor offender readiness model
(Ward et al., 2004) emphasises social climate in forensic settings as a condition of external
readiness and programme responsivity that influence treatment engagement.
DOI 10.1108/20441281211236562 VOL. 6 NO. 4 2012, pp. 171-178, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282
j
ADVANCES IN MENTALHEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
j
PAGE 171
Marian Quinn is based at
the University of East
Anglia, Norwich, UK.
Cathy Thomas and
Verity Chester are based
at Partnerships in Care
Learning Disabilities
Service, Diss, UK.
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