ABSTRACT

It is estimated that young people commit between 20% and 60% of sexual offences against children. While social isolation is a recognised risk factor for harmful sexual behaviour in young people, strong childhood attachments, developing social skills and belonging to peer groups are key protective factors. Community Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) is a community-based intervention that was originally developed for adults with sexual convictions and has now been adopted with young people who display harmful sexual behaviour. CoSA directly addresses issues of social isolation by providing individuals (known as Core Members) with a circle of social support made up of volunteers, professionals and a coordinator. There is now an established evidence base for CoSA with adults; the current study aims to explore the experience of a young person’s CoSA. Interviews were conducted with a Core Member, their guardian (grandmother), CoSA volunteer and the CoSA Coordinator. Multi-perspective interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data, and three superordinate themes were established: (i) Contested self-change, (ii) Negotiating relational boundaries and (iii) Toward “normalcy”.

PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT

This research highlights the difficulties and complexities in working with this client group and sustaining the intervention’s positives. It highlights that sustaining treatment gains without increasing the social capital and context in the individual’s wider world can be challenging and can limit full participation within the intervention. The research demonstrates the importance of helping the Core Member experience safe, boundaried and meaningful relationships.

中文翻译：

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“我真的看不出有什么变化”——多角度分析对曾经有过有害性行为的年轻人的支持和问责圈

摘要

据估计，20% 到 60% 的儿童性犯罪是年轻人犯下的。虽然社会孤立是年轻人有害性行为的公认风险因素，但强烈的童年依恋、发展社交技能和属于同龄群体是关键的保护因素。社区支持和问责圈 (CoSA) 是一种基于社区的干预措施，最初是为有性信念的成年人开发的，现在已被用于表现出有害性行为的年轻人。CoSA 通过为个人（称为核心成员）提供由志愿者、专业人员和协调员组成的社会支持圈，直接解决社会孤立问题。现在已有针对成人 CoSA 的既定证据基础；目前的研究旨在探索年轻人的 CoSA 体验。对核心成员、他们的监护人（祖母）、CoSA 志愿者和 CoSA 协调员进行了访谈。使用多视角解释现象学分析来分析数据，并建立了三个高级主题：（i）有争议的自我改变，（ii）协商关系边界和（iii）走向“常态”。

实践影响报告

这项研究强调了与这个客户群体合作并维持干预的积极性的困难和复杂性。它强调，在不增加个人更广阔世界的社会资本和背景的情况下维持治疗收益可能具有挑战性，并且可能会限制干预的充分参与。该研究证明了帮助核心成员体验安全、有界限和有意义的关系的重要性。