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The Transformers programme is a community-based intervention for people with an intellectual disability (ID) who have emotion regulation difficulties, which can manifest as aggressive and challenging behaviour. The programme was adapted from the Stepping Stones programme (Oxnam and Gardner, 2011) – an emotion regulation programme for offenders with an ID who live in an inpatient setting. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the Transformers programme that has been implemented at an ID service, which provides secure and supervised care to people who have been convicted of an imprisonable offence or have high and complex behaviour needs.

The Transformers programme is delivered in weekly sessions over a six-month period in a group format. The focus is on helping group members to develop skills in recognising and understanding negative emotions and learning skills to cope effectively with such emotions. Treatment covers a variety of modules including relaxation, goal setting, chain analysis, emotion recognition, and emotion regulation. Specific strategies used include role-plays, DVDs, and quizzes.

This paper presents the rationale, developmental history, and description of a specific approach to the treatment of emotion regulation difficulties.

The paper aims to inform health professionals working in the field of ID.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of the Transformers programme on individual's use of appropriate emotion regulation strategies.

Five people with an intellectual disability participated in the Transformers programme and took part in the current study. The intervention was evaluated using the Profile of Anger Coping Skills (PACS) and incident reports. The PACS was completed by participants and their caregivers.

The majority of participants demonstrated increases in self- and caregiver-reported use of appropriate emotion regulation strategies following their involvement in the Transformers programme. However, treatment gains were not always maintained at follow-up. Three of the participants also exhibited fewer incidents of challenging behaviour after taking part in the programme.

Overall, the results provide preliminary support for the continued use of the Transformers programme with people with an intellectual disability who have emotion regulation difficulties. It is recommended that further research be carried out with a larger sample size, a control group, and a longer follow-up period.