Suchergebnisse

AbstractBackgroundRestrictive measures (RM) are prevalent in services for people with intellectual disabilities. This study investigates managerial awareness of RM and the nature of organisational supports required to reduce their use.MethodA survey asked front‐line managers and staff what (RM) were used, their purpose, impact and importance (10‐item Likert scales) and what organisational changes were required (free text). Responses were analysed using descriptive methods and content analysis.ResultsManagers reported a lower use of RM, compared with staff. According to managers, RM were mainly used to keep service users from harm, their use having a significant impact. Opportunities to change practices were limited by a lack of resources and organisational support.ConclusionFront‐line managers seem to lack the capacity to address the use of RM due to organisational drift; limited manager time and opportunity to allocate resources; inadequate environments; and lack of skilled staff, knowledge and relevant professional input.

To test the theory that sexual offenders who abuse very young children (0-5 years) have more severe mental health and psychosocial problems than those who victimize older children, authors compared psychiatric diagnoses, social circumstances, and crime-related data in all sexual offenders against minors referred to forensic psychiatric investigation in Sweden during a 5-year period. Thirty-one men had committed index crimes involving victims between the ages of 0 and 5 years (Group 1), 90 had 6-to 11-year-old victims (Group 2), and 41 had 12- to 15-year-old victims (Group 3). All three offender groups were characterized by severe mental health problems, in many cases fulfilling American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria for both Axis I and Axis II diagnoses, but these problems did not differ between groups. Neither did social situation or sexual orientation. Offenders with 0- to 5-year-old victims significantly more often abused both boys and girls. Frequencies of retrospectively diagnosed childhood-onset behavior disorders were high in all three offender groups. The authors' data did not support previous findings of increasingly severe mental health problems with decreasing victim age.