Young People Who Display Harmful Sexual Behaviors and Their Families: A Qualitative Systematic Review of Their Experiences of Professional Interventions

Abstract

It is estimated that 30-50% of all childhood sexual abuse involves other young people as perpetrators. The treatment of harmful sexual behavior (HSB) in young people has evolved from interventions developed for use with adult perpetrators of sexual offenses. Increasingly, these approaches were not seen as appropriate for use with young people. The purpose of this qualitative systematic review was to establish what intervention components are viewed as acceptable or useful by young people and their families in order to inform the development of interventions for young people with HSB. We conducted searches across 14 electronic databases as well as contacting experts to identify relevant studies. Thirteen qualitative studies were included in the analysis, reporting findings from intervention studies from the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland. Thematic analysis was used to combine findings from the studies of young people and parent/carers views. Five key themes were identified as critical components of successful interventions for young people with HSB. These included the key role of the relationship between the young person and practitioner, the significance of the role of parents and carers, the importance of considering the wider context in which the abuse has occurred, the role of disclosure in interventions, and the need to equip young people with skills as well as knowledge. The evidence was limited by the small number of studies that were mainly from the perspectives of adolescent males.

Experiences of Young People with Harmful Sexual Behaviors in Services: A Qualitative Study

“…While services are a crucial element in these young people's rehabilitation, and in their chance of living a normal life free of abusive behaviors, little is known about the experiences of young people with sexual behavior problems in tertiary services (Grady et al, 2018;Campbell, Booth, Hackett & Sutton, 2018). Grady et al (2018), for example, found that they could only identify five qualitative studies on this topic.…”

“…From the research that has been conducted, tertiary interventions appear to have a number of positive effects for these young people, such as increasing their sense of self-confidence and self-efficacy (Halse et al, 2012;Draper, Errington, Mar and Makhita, 2013). Many young people with sexual behavior issues appear to value interventions by tertiary services (though they may also be challenged by them), especially when these are undertaken with professionals who employ nonjudgemental approaches and avoid labelling (Campbell et al, 2018). The development of a positive therapeutic relationship is especially appreciated; these young people often struggle with emotional loneliness and lack social support (Grady et al, 2018).…”

Interrater reliability and experiences of Assessment, Intervention, and Moving-on 3 Assessment Model in a multidisciplinary Norwegian sample

“…However, it is also important to note that too much data can be overwhelming for some practitioners ( Munro, 2020 ). Another important advantage of the AIM3 is the broad assessment of HSB that it creates by taking into context multiple domains of a young person’s life and well-being, helping practitioners focus not only on the HSB itself ( Campbell et al, 2020 ; King-Hill, 2021 ).…”

“…Recommending too much or too little intervention, restrictions, and restraints may be unethical and even harmful to minors in their ongoing development and maturation. Information, such as the ways children and adolescents report their own experiences during assessment and intervention, will be important ( Campbell et al, 2020 ).…”

Help-Seeking and Help-Related Experiences of Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

“…Notwithstanding the challenges, a growing number of scholars agree that learning about the life experiences and views of CSEY is crucial if we want to help them (Hampton & Lieggi, 2020). Understanding how service-users perceive the mechanisms that lead to positive outcomes is needed to design and deliver effective policies and interventions—particularly with regard to youth who display harmful sexual behaviors (Campbell et al, 2018). Accordingly, the present synthesis focuses on qualitative studies that contribute in-depth and nuanced understanding of help-seeking processes and help-related experiences of CSEY.…”