An evaluation of an emotion regulation programme for people with an intellectual disability

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of the Transformers programme on individual's use of appropriate emotion regulation strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Five people with an intellectual disability participated in the Transformers programme and took part in the current study. The intervention was evaluated using the Profile of Anger Coping Skills (PACS) and incident reports. The PACS was completed by participants and their caregivers. Findings – The majority of participants demonstrated increases in self- and caregiver-reported use of appropriate emotion regulation strategies following their involvement in the Transformers programme. However, treatment gains were not always maintained at follow-up. Three of the participants also exhibited fewer incidents of challenging behaviour after taking part in the programme. Originality/value – Overall, the results provide preliminary support for the continued use of the Transformers programme with people with an intellectual disability who have emotion regulation difficulties. It is recommended that further research be carried out with a larger sample size, a control group, and a longer follow-up period.

Measuring empathy in youth and young adults with mild intellectual disabilities or borderline intelligence in residential care - The validation of an adapted basic empathy scale: The BES-MID

“…Both removed items focus on negative emotions and on feeling afraid. There is evidence that people with MID/BI overall have a limited range of coping strategies, and the types of strategies that they use to regulate their emotions are not always effective [ 49 ], resulting in self-regulation difficulties, which refer to the ability to regulate emotion, behaviour, and cognition [ 51 ]. Research indicates that children and adolescents with MID/BI have fewer self-regulation abilities than their typically developing peers ([ 52 , 53 ]), and that they also have difficulties regarding emotion regulation, cognition, behaviour, and physiology in response to stressful events or circumstances [ 49 ], which might point towards specific difficulties in dealing with emotions and prosocial behaviour ([ 5 , 50 , 54 ]).…”

Transformers: a programme for people with an intellectual disability and emotion regulation difficulties

“…A recent study investigated the effectiveness of the Transformers programme (McWilliams et al, 2014). Five people with an ID who displayed emotion regulation difficulties and challenging behaviour participated in the research.…”