Turn the Page - Barriers and facilitators to

change for young people on a harmful

sexual behaviour programme

Emma Belton - April 2015

• Based on the Change for Good manual (McCrory, 2011)

• 26 structured sessions covered in 4 modules Engagement Relationships Self-regulation Road map for the future

• 4 additional flexible sessions

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About the programme

• Increase the likelihood that a young person will show sexual and non sexual behaviours that are socially acceptable and will refrain from harmful sexual behaviour

• Enhancing the young persons psycho-social functioning, optimism about the future and sense of well being

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Programme aims

• Does the use of the manual by NSPCC practitioners bring about changes in behaviour amongst young people with harmful sexual behaviour?

 • With which young people, and in what

circumstances is the manual most effective?

 • How can the delivery of the manual by NSPCC

practitioners be improved?

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Goals of the evaluation

• Young person finishing the programme

• Their parent or carer

• Referrer – children’s services and YOS

• NSPCC practitioners

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Case study approach to interviews

Overarching model

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Support network

Context e.g. change in placement

Using the manual

Motivation Engagement ChangeSustaining

change

• Intrinsic motivation

Want help to sort things out and move on

Stick with the programme even if difficult

‘The whole world had got on top of him so I think he didn’t want to feel like that again and he recognised that therapy was going to make a difference and it did.’ [Referrer- Case 5].

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Motivation to attend

• Restrictions on behaviour

• Pressure from parents/carers or referrers

• Does not always result in engagement

‘He was quite a strong-willed young man. So he had quite fixed views on what he should be doing and what he shouldn’t be doing. I think realistically that only probably changed when the end was in sight, when he could literally count down and he had those six sessions to go. The difficulty with [young person] is he would do the tasks, but he would leave things at the door. So he wouldn’t see the relevance of applying the programme to his life outside, and he only really started to engage meaningfully when the finish line was in sight’ [NSPCC practitioners – Case 8]

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External motivation

‘I think the start of it yeah I thought it’s going to be easy I'm going to get through this but it got like three quarters of the way and I was just like ((sighs)) oh it’s taking ages, it’s just going on. It was such a long time’

[Young person – Case 13].

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Programme length

Engagement in sessions

Young people

• Sessions that were fun

• Covered things they were interested in or felt relevant to them

• Helped them learn new things

Practitioners

• More creative methods

• Flexibility to adapt to the needs and learning style of each young person

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• Important role in supporting the young person and reinforcing messages post programme Not all have the capacity to give support Some in denial about the HSB

• Practitioners step in to fill the gap

‘I couldn’t fault [CSP] she was absolutely fantastic. She was at the end of the phone because she knew about [young person’s] behavioural problems and I'd ring her if there'd been an incident here at home and she'd perhaps be trying to incorporate that into one of the sessions. So she was just a phone call away really, she was like a lifeline to me sometimes.’ [Parent – Case 3].

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Support from parents/carers

• Can pick up the work with parents/carers Not all actively involved with the case Cases closed during the programme or soon

after it ends YOS orders end about the same time as the

programme

• Reinforce the messages post-programme Some want more information about the

sessions and work to do this

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Support from other professionals

• Varies from no change to change in several areas

Learn more about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour

Understanding triggers to HSB and how to manage them

Think through consequences of actions

More confident and less withdrawn

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Progress made

‘Me and [CSP] got on fine. I think that’s probably one of the biggest things, so if I didn’t get on with [CSP] then the work would have been a lot harder, but I got along with [CSP] fine, he’s a really nice guy anyway. I mean I could talk to [CSP] about anything, some things that I’ve never ever said to anyone and I said it to [CSP]. He basically knew everything about me anyway, without even me wanting him to know; but instead of being like everyone else where you just judge the situation, he just got to know me and for who I am, like even though he knows all the behind the scenes – you could call it – stuff, he just got to know my character – well, he got to know me.’ [Young person – Case 12].

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Therapeutic relationship

• Without ongoing support from parents/carers or referrers programme impact may be limited

– Referrers want more opportunities for young people to apply learning during the programme

– Use of mentors

– Follow-up appointments

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Building in post programme support

• Evaluation Quantitative evaluation looking at change

(final evaluation report June 2016)

•Service development Developing work with families Better linkages with our NCATS service Better joint working on assessment (AIM

assessments in partnership with referral agencies)

Training our HelpLine in HSB issues Links with the national HSB framework

development group

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Next steps

• Emma Belton– NSPCC Evaluation Department– ebelton@nspcc.org.uk

• NSPCC Impact and Evidence Hub• http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/researc

h-and-resources/turn-the-page-first-evaluation/

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Further details