The prevention of offending behaviour by people with intellectual disabilities: a case for specialist childhood and adolescent early intervention

Purpose: Elucidating where antisocial or violent behaviour arises within the life course of individuals with intellectual disability (ID) could improve outcomes within this population, through informing services and interventions which prevent behaviours reaching a forensic threshold. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: The Historical Clinical Risk Management-20, Version 3 assessments of a cohort of 84 inpatients within a forensic ID service were analysed for this study, with a particular emphasis on items concerned with the age at which antisocial or violence first emerged. Findings: For most participants, violent or antisocial behaviour was first observed in childhood or adolescence. The study also highlighted a smaller subgroup, whose problems with violence or antisocial behaviour were first observed in adulthood. Originality/value: The study findings suggest that targeted services in childhood and adolescence may have a role in reducing the offending behaviour and forensic involvement of people with ID. This has implications for the service models provided for children and adolescents with ID with challenging or offending behaviour

Teaching staff knowledge, attributions and confidence in relation to working with children with an intellectual disability and challenging behaviour

The present study examined Scottish teaching staff knowledge about the definition and management of challenging behaviour displayed by children with an intellectual disability. Knowledge levels were relatively low, and participants were most likely to define challenging behaviour by function or topography. Teaching staff were largely unaware of positive programming strategies, suggesting that they may not be properly equipped to manage challenging behaviour effectively in the longer term. The teaching staff were found to hold attributions which research suggests are associated with reduced helping behaviour and increased anger. This indicates a continuing need to identify effective ways of promoting more accurate knowledge and positive attributions in teaching staff

Practice Leadership at the front line in supporting people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour: a qualitative study of registered managers of community-based, staffed group homes.

Background The front-line management role in services for people with intellectual disabilities remains rather under-researched. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of registered managers in services for adults with intellectual disability who exhibit challenging behaviour. Method Interviews, primarily focussed upon staff practice, were conducted with 19 managers of staffed group homes in SE England. Transcripts were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Results Five groups of themes emerged: monitoring staff performance, supporting new ways of working, shaping staff performance, influence of external and employing agencies, and importance of participants' personal values and experiences. Conclusion The themes identified contribute to a conceptual framework for thinking about front-line management/practice leadership. The limitations, and potential implications, of the findings are discussed

Assessment of interpersonal risk (AIR) in adults with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour – piloting a new risk assessment tool

This article is a report on a research project funded by the Knowledge Transfer Partnership. This research was a joint project with NHS Fife. The accelerated long-stay Learning Disability Hospital closure programme in Scotland throughout the late 1990s and from 2000 onwards, resulted in the movement of residents both within and out-with these Hospitals to either community based housing models or to community based In-patient services. The legacy and impact of this residential service re-provision was that individuals experienced changes in those they lived with, and those who supported them. This process took place against the back-drop and dynamic of associated changes in environmental, procedural, situational and interpersonal risk. It was in recognition of the challenge that this change programme presented to care services in terms of defensible risk assessment and management that the Assessment of Interpersonal Risk tool was developed.A new risk assessment tool, Assessment of Interpersonal Risk (AIR), was piloted and evaluated to measure risk factors and compatibility between individuals living in an assessment and treatment unit in one NHS area. The adults with learning disabilities in this unit had severe and enduring mental health problems and/or behaviour that is severely challenging. The aims of this small-scale research project were to estimate the reciprocal risk to and from each individual across five main risk domains and to enhance professional judgement to make defensible decisions about interpersonal risk. Data were recorded on incidents involving five individuals over a period of 6 months. Individual Rating Profiles were incorporated into existing Individual Risk Management Plans, together with interpersonal profiles, recording risk evaluations between named individuals across the five risk domains. Results showed that the AIR tool may be a useful addition to existing effective risk management, to inform assessments and future discharge planning.PreprintPeer reviewe