A Group Treatment for Men with Intellectual Disabilities who Sexually Offend or Abuse

Abstract

Background This report describes a group intervention for men with an intellectual disability who have sexually offended or abused others. The group was in response to referrals to a psychology department. The majority of these individuals had not been subject to legal proceedings. Methods A number of assessments were conducted prior to the group, immediately after the group and at 3-and 6-month follow-up. Results Attitudes consistent with offending reduced after participation for most participants, however, these tended to revert to pre-group levels over time. Locus of control became more external after the group treatment, this was contrary to expectations and results obtained with interventions for individuals without an intellectual disability. Knowledge tended to increase after the group, however, problems with the questionnaire used made interpretation of the results difficult. No further incidents of sexual abuse have been recorded by any of the five group members who completed the group, since the start of the group (a period of 1 year to date). Conclusions This group should be seen as a pilot project. However, further therapeutic work is indicated as is theoretical and questionnaire development.

Locus of Control and Sex Offenders With an Intellectual Disability

“…However, the current results, and previous studies (Gardner, Warren & Gardner, 1977;Koscielak, 1988;Riedel & Milgram, 1970;Wehmeyer, 1994;Wehmeyer & Palmer, 1997) suggest that people with intellectual disabilities, including those who are sex offenders (Rose et al, 2002) may endorse an external locus of control regardless, and this raises some interesting questions for how locus of control is related to treatment outcome for people with intellectual disabilities.…”

“…The NowickiStrickland measure of locus of control was chosen for the current study as this is one of the most widely used measures of locus of control and has been previously used with adults with intellectual disabilities (Wehmeyer, 1994;Wehmeyer & Palmer, 1997) including adults with intellectual disabilities who have a history of sexual offending (Rose et al, 2002), along with sex offenders without an intellectual disability (Fisher et al, 1998).…”

Assessment and treatment of offenders with intellectual and developmental disabilities

“…Each of these papers gave examples of the way in which cognitive distortions are elicited and challenged during treatment and measures of cognitive distortions found reductions which maintained for at least one year follow-up. Rose et al (2002) reported on a 16 week cognitive behavioural treatment for five participants who had perpetrated sexual abuse. They assessed locus of control, cognitive distortions, victim empathy and knowledge of the law and the only significant change was a greater focus on external locus of control after the intervention.…”

The Offence Process of Sex Offenders with Intellectual Disabilities: A Qualitative Study

“…In reality, most reported interventions for people with intellectual disabilities are multimodal (Day, 2000;Haaven, Little, & Petre-Miller, 1990;Hill-Tout, Thomas, & Dunkerton, 1998;Keating, 2000;Lund, 1992;Murphy, Coleman, & Haynes, 1983;Murphy, Holland, Fowler, & Reep, 1991;Nolley, Muccigrosso, & Zigman, 1996;O'Connor, 1996;Rose, Jenkins, O'Connor, Jones, & Felce, 2002), involving a variety of components and therefore guided by a number of underlying models. Although it is appropriate to formulate interventions for each individual and to provide a comprehensive treatment package that incorporates their needs, these interventions are often published as "ready-to-use" packages.…”