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

ABSTRACT

Young people are responsible for a significant number of the sexual offenses that are committed every year. These young people are generally referred to specialist services for treatment. This article explores the health characteristics and service experiences of 117 young people with sexual behavior problems, and the issues that services face when working with them. The study is based on analysis of 117 case files, identified from nine specialist services in the UK. The case files were thematically analyzed. Case files provided information on the following topics: the reasons why the young people were referred to harmful sexual behavior services; the young people’s personal characteristics; their medical and mental health problems; the young people’s interests and aspirations; their attitudes toward services and interventions; continued problematic sexual incidents in services; progress in services; and post-service experiences. Overall, the findings of the study indicate that these young people have a number of strengths, but often have problems across a range of personal and health domains. A number of them continue to remain sexually and generally violent in services, particularly in residential settings, which has risk management implications for staff.

KEYWORDS:

• Young people
• qualitative
• services
• youth
• harmful sexual behavior
• sexual violence
• juvenile

Acknowledgments

We would like to sincerely thank the services and organizations that took part in and supported this study. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their very helpful comments.

Disclosure of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to report.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committees on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Consent to analyze the case files was obtained from all participating services.

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council [Grant no.: ESRC RES-062023-0850] to Simon Hackett and Helen Masson, Principal Investigators.

Notes on contributors

Myles Balfe

Myles Balfe is a Lecturer at Above the Bar in Medical Sociology in UCC, Cork, Ireland. His work focuses on the sociology of medicine and the sociology of violence, and he teaches modules in UCC on both of these topics. Myles is Director of Graduate Studies in Sociology in UCC.

Simon Hackett

Simon Hackett is a Professor of Sociology in Durham University, UK. Simon is Chair of NOTA, a child protection charity and professional association with branches across the UK and Republic of Ireland. NOTA promotes work with offenders as a way of safeguarding children and preventing sexual abuse.

Helen Masson

Helen Masson is Professor Emerita at the University of Huddersfield, UK. Helen’s research focuses on children with sexual behavior problems. She is the author of a number of key articles and books on this topic, including the edited collection “Children and young people who sexually abuse others: current developments and practice responses.”

Josie Phillips

Josie Phillips is an Assistant Professor in Sociology in Durham University, UK. Josie has a social work qualification, a post-qualifying award, and an MSc in Child Forensic Studies from Leeds University. She has worked as a Social Worker and Training Officer for Local Authority Children’s Services and the NSPCC.