Reframe the Behaviour: Evaluation of a training intervention to increase capacity in managing detained youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and neurodevelopmental impairments

Abstract

The first study to investigate the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) within an Australian juvenile detention centre has identified the highest known prevalence of FASD among a justice-involved population worldwide. However, there has been limited investigation into the capacity of the custodial workforce to identify and manage young people in Australian detention centres with FASD or other neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI), and no published interventions aiming to develop environments appropriate for those with FASD in justice settings. Using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication checklist, this study describes the conception, implementation and evaluation of a training intervention aiming to upskill the custodial workforce in the management of youth with FASD and NDI; 117 staff participated in the intervention, and 109 completed pre- and post-intervention surveys. Improvements were seen across almost all knowledge and attitude items, and the intervention was considered highly necessary, appropriate and valuable by the workforce.

Key words:

• FASD
• fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
• juvenile detention
• neurodevelopmental disorder
• officers
• youth justice

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all staff at Banksia Hill Detention Centre involved in this study for their time, expertise and ongoing support. They also thank the young people at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and their families who were involved in the prevalence study for their participation and support. The authors thank their colleagues from the Telethon Kids Institute Banksia Hill study team for their commitment and passion to this important work. The authors acknowledge Professor Rhonda Marriott, a Chief Investigator on the study. They thank all members of the cast and crew who were involved in the creation of the training videos, particularly the Producer Jodie Passmore, Director Alison James, and Director of Photography Michael McDermott. They thank the Department of Justice and the Department Communities for their ongoing support, and all members of the Consumer and Community Reference Group, the Steering Group and the Reference Group for their invaluable and continuing input to the study.

Ethical standards

Declaration of conflicts of interest

Hayley M. Passmore has declared no conflicts of interest

Raewyn C. Mutch has declared no conflicts of interest

Rochelle Watkins has declared no conflicts of interest

Sharyn Burns has declared no conflicts of interest

Guy Hall has declared no conflicts of interest

James Urquhart has declared no conflicts of interest

Jonathan Carapetis has declared no conflicts of interest

Carol Bower has declared no conflicts of interest

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Western Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committee (approval number 582) and University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number RA/4/1/7116) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Research approvals were also gained from the Western Australian Department of Justice (formerly the Department of Corrective Services; project ID 335) and the Western Australian Department of Communities (formerly the Department for Child Protection and Family Support; approval number 2015/8981).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study

Disclaimer

Any material published or made publicly available by the researchers cannot be considered as either endorsed by the Department of Justice or the Department of Communities or an expression of the policies or views of either department. Any errors of omission or commission are the responsibility of the researchers and not the Departments.

Contributors[PEQ]

H.M.P. is a PhD Candidate at the Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, and was responsible for the early consultations with the youth custodial workforce, conceptualisation, development and implementation of the intervention, development of the evaluation surveys, data collection, entry and analysis, writing of the first draft and compiling of the final manuscript. R.C.M., S.B., J.C., G.H. and C.B. all supervise H.M.P. in her PhD research. R.C.M., R.W. and C.B. are Chief Investigators, and J.C. is an Associate Investigator on the prevalence study. R.C.M., R.W., S.B., G.H. and C.B. provided guidance on the development of the intervention, and development and administration of the survey. J.U., R.W. and C.B. assisted with the data analysis and interpretation. All authors read, edited and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council [NHMRC; grant number APP1072072]. C.B. was funded by a NHMRC Fellowship [grant number 634341]. H.M.P. was funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship and The University of Western Australia Safety Net Top-up Scholarship [reference number 21806348], and a 2017 Stan and Jean Perron Award for Excellence. This work was supported by the NHMRC FASD Research Australia Centre of Research Excellence [grant number 1110341].