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The purpose of this paper is to elucidate how care professionals/providers construe, understand and make sense of the characteristics that are important when providing care to adults with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder, based on their experiences of working within their roles within a residential care setting.

Care professionals and providers working at a community autism and intellectual disability service were interviewed to ascertain their experiences of working with this client group. The research design adopted a qualitative methodology using repertory grids.

Ten members of staff who agreed to participate formed the study’s sample.  This consisted of team leaders, support workers, one member of the executive management team and one clinical member of staff. Ten themes were identified for working effectively with people with autism and intellectual disabilities. These were: making autism-specific adaptations, approachable, reflective/self-aware, strong understanding of their residents/empathetic, benevolent, empowering, follows plans consistently, confident in ability to support residents with autism, resilient, respectful.

The paper discusses each of these ten themes above and how employers can aid in selecting individuals who may be more suited to working with this patient group.

A literature search demonstrated a lack of empirical research, especially qualitative research, on this topic.

Clinically, it is often observed that autistic people may have a heightened need for rules and may find rule violations very distressing. It is clinically plausible that autistic individuals may be prone to hyper-morality and greater reactivity and adverse experiences arising from moral threats and violations. Such adverse experiences may, in some instances, lead to moral distress (MD) or in more extreme cases moral injury. Thus, this study aims to examine how MD can operate in the context of autism.

The authors explore clinical hypotheses on how MD can intersect with different features of autism by drawing on clinical and research knowledge of autism spectrum disorder and how it contextualises experiences of morality.

Based on a review of the literature and theory, the authors hypothesise that autistic individuals may be more prone to MD where they have a lower threshold for MD. As a result of this lower threshold, they may have more frequent exposure to MD, experience more immediate and intense subjective reactions to moral transgressions, for more protracted periods. Also, they may find it more difficult to over-ride and neutralise moral outrage. As a result, they may be more susceptible to mental health sequelae and impaired social and occupational functioning. Practical recommendations are made for clinicians supporting people with autism with a propensity for MD or moral injury, to improve their quality of life.

Practical recommendations are made for clinicians supporting people with autism with a propensity for MD or moral injury, to improve their quality of life.

Understanding MD in an autistic context is important for detecting and treating the adverse impacts of MD on autistic individuals. Importantly, erroneous preconceptions about moral reasoning in autism need to be mitigated to fully understand the moral experiences and harness the many strengths of people with autism.

Early bio-psycho-social experiences can dramatically impact all aspects of development. Both autism and traumagenic histories can lead to trans-diagnostic behavioural features that can be confused with one another during diagnostic assessment, unless an in-depth differential diagnostic evaluation is conducted that considers the developmental aetiology and underpinning experiences and triggers to trans-diagnostic behaviours.

This paper will explore the ways in which biological, cognitive, emotional and social sequelae of early trauma and attachment challenges, can look very similar to a range of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Relevant literature and theory will be considered and synthesised with clinical knowledge of trauma and autism.

Recommendations are made for how the overlap between features of autism and trauma can be considered during assessments alongside consideration for interventions to enable people to access the most appropriate support for their needs.

Many features of the behaviours of individuals who have experienced early childhood trauma and disrupted or maladaptive attachments, may look similar to the behaviours associated with autism and hence diagnostic assessments of autism need to carefully differentiate traumagenic causes, to either dual diagnose (if both are present) or exclude autism, if it is not present. This has for long been recognised in child and adolescent autism specialist services but is less well developed in adult autism specialist services.

Social psychology has focused on an individual’s reaction to emergencies and witnessing a crime, which has developed theories of bystander intervention and bystander apathy. The purpose of this study is to explore why people choose to intervene when they are a bystander to intimate partner violence (IPV) and the psychological processes that underpin this. Decision-making was explored drawing on literature from the whistleblowing field.

Through a mixed methods epistemology, this study explored factors that explained intervening behaviour concerning IPV. In total, 212 participants who had known someone who was a victim of IPV were recruited from the general population.

A logistic regression model indicated that conscientiousness and fairness were found to predict intervening behaviour. Being a child witness was found to predict non-intervening behaviour. Qualitative analysis revealed three types of bystander apathy: those who lacked capability as they were children; those who were indifferent and did not see it as their place to intervene; and those who wanted to intervene but did not as they were frightened of exacerbating the situation.

IPV has significant physical and psychological effects on victims. However, the choice to intervene is complex, and bystander intervention in this study was also associated in some cases with not only a continuation of the IPV behaviour towards the victim but also aggression and physical violence towards the bystander (whistleblower retaliation). Based on the findings of this study, recommendations are made for how to support bystanders and victims of IPV.

This study involved participants with real-life experience of being a bystander to IPV. The mixed methodology provided an insight into the psychological processes, which underpin bystander experiences of IPV and maps onto the literature in relation to whistleblowing.

Hyperfocus (HF) is characterised by an intense state of concentration/focus. The purpose of this study is to explore in what ways HF has been found to contribute towards offending behaviour and what treatments have been found to be efficacious to reduce offending behaviour where HF was a contributing factor.

The systematic review was performed according to the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Papers were screened for quality appraisal and risk of bias. The initial search yielded 9,446 articles. Fifty-seven papers were deemed as meeting the inclusion criteria.

HF was noted to act as a vulnerability factor for aggression, sexual offending, radicalisation and stalking. HF was also observed in clients with psychopathy, autism, mental illness and those without a diagnosis. Thus, HF was not found to be offence or diagnosis specific. Furthermore, HF was found across males and females and adults and adolescents. The results identified themes in relation to the mechanisms by which HF may contribute to offending and suggested interventions for HF and offending.

Practitioners working with clients with HF currently lack evidence on the extent to which this contributes towards offending and recidivism and how HF could be addressed in interventions. Future research is needed to establish the role of HF in offending behaviour. Ideally, this should involve longitudinal data collection, retrospective analysis of data and sophisticated statistical analysis. This should also include exploration of the ways in which HF may be interconnected with offence risks/need factors which contribute towards offending. Research could inform the development of formal measurement tools for HF which are validated with norms for adult and adolescent offender samples. Practitioners should use case formulation to explore if HF represents a treatment need for clients they are working with.

This review noted that although HF has been postulated as being an important contributing factor to offending behaviour, few studies have tested this directly. From the limited studies available, HF was found to be relevant across different types of offences. HF was noted to contribute to offending due to neuropsychological mechanisms linked to executive functioning deficits and positive rewards associated with offending behaviour. Reasons for the lack of HF research are noted and recommendations for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent neuro-typical theories of sexual offending apply to clients with Levels 2 and 3 autism with a co-morbid intellectual disability (ID). The paper develops a model of harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) for this client group and makes suggestions for how these behaviours can be understood and reduced.

The revised Integrated Theory of Sexual Offending (ITSO) (Ward and Beech, 2016) is used as a starting framework to understand HSB in this client group. This attends to specific neuropsychological systems, brain development, motivation and emotional processing.

The revised ITSO has some utility in understanding HSB in this client group. This is improved when neuro-atypical specific state factors are identified. Practical ways of establishing these state factors are made which attend to the function of the behaviour in line with “Good Lives” model of rehabilitation.

Recommendations for ways in which the function of HSB in this client group can be identified are made as well as recommendations for how treatment can be tailored dependent on the function of behaviour in this client group.

The paper makes practical recommendations for how interventions for people with ID and autism in line with Ward, Clack and Haig’s (2016) Abductive Theory of Method which noted that interventions should be adopted to consider wider explanations for offending thus acknowledging that treatment could extend beyond cognitive behavioural therapy for clinical phenomena. Future treatments for clients with autism and LD are suggested which attend to sensory needs, teaching alternative communication strategies for seeking out “deep pressure” or attention in ways that do not involve sexual offending, using picture communication, information technology or Makaton to communicate needs or using social stories to explain the consequences of behaviour. In addition, neuro-atypical interventions which attend to the neuropsychological functioning of clients could also be included in treatment for neuro-typical clients, thus ensuring that interventions attend to every aspect of the ITSO and not purely clinical phenomena.

Enhancing treatment interventions for clients with ID and autism could both reduce risk and enhance quality of life for this client group.

Much of the work to date exploring HSB in clients with autism has attended to clients with Level 1 autism or those without an additional ID. This paper provides practitioners with a theory upon which to understand HSB in clients with a dual diagnosis of Levels 2/3 autism and an ID as well as practical recommendations for reducing HSB in this client group.

The increasing conviction rates of stalking in the UK have prompted efforts to identify factors that may influence individuals to engage in such behaviour. Over two million people in England and Wales experience stalking every year, with estimated reoffending rates for stalking being between 25 and 55% (ONS, 2022; McEwan et al., 2017). Research has identified risk factors that may contribute towards stalking behaviours, which has included obsessive relational pursuit and online impulsivity (Post et al., 2014a; Rocheleau, 2019). This has resulted in researchers postulating a link between facets of neurodiversity and stalking behaviour (Freckelton, 2013). The purpose of this study was to examine the evidence base for any link between neurodiversity and stalking.

The Systematic Review was performed according to the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Papers were screened for quality appraisal and risk of bias. The initial search yielded 3,880 articles. A total of 10 papers were deemed as meeting the inclusion criteria.

There is insufficient research quality regarding neurodiversity and stalking perpetration due to poor diagnostic reliability of neurodiversity and a lack of reliable tools being used in the research which do not meet the definitions of stalking. As such, the existing research about neurodiversity and stalking perpetration is inconclusive and predominantly unreliable. Tentative evidence indicated that people with neurodiversity were at greater risk of being victims of stalking and that for the minority of people with neurodiversity who engage in stalking the factors that contribute towards this mirror those of neurotypical individuals.

Overall, the factors contributing to stalking highlighted by the included studies, such as difficulties with communication, empathy, insight into social functioning, interpersonal competence and ways of forming relationships with others, seem to map onto the deficits of neurotypical stalking perpetrators (Canter and Youngs, 2012; Lewis et al., 2001; Mullen et al., 2006). However, tools that contextualise neurodiversity in the context of risk assessments for stalking may be helpful (Al-Attar, 2019, 2021).

Recommendations for further research are made to gain a robust understanding of any potential relationship between neurodiversity and stalking and in particular a risk of stalking victimisation.

Public attitudes are considered influential in the successful reintegration of offenders into society after release, however research into attitudes towards offenders with intellectual disability (ID) has received little attention. The purpose of this study is firstly to see if people hold differing attitudes towards the reintegration of offenders with ID compared to those without ID and secondly, to investigate whether this difference in attitude is because of differing implicit theories of intelligence (TOI). The effects of familiarity with ID were also measured.

In total, 200 participants read crime vignettes depicting crimes committed by offenders with and without ID and completed Dweck’s “TOI” scale.

Participants were found to have greater entity views of intelligence towards ID yet displayed more positive attitudes towards their reintegration than offenders without ID. The influence of demographics was mixed. It would appear attitudes towards offenders with ID are not as negative as initially thought.

Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of desistance and community integration.

While some care must be taken when interpreting the results, this study demonstrates positive results regarding the reintegration of offenders with ID. Attitudes may be changing for the better towards those with disabilities, which is positive in terms of the government and National Health Service (NHS) objectives to reintegrate people with ID successfully back into the community. Although limited in number, it is noted that community forensic mental health teams have been effective in managing offender risk and providing good quality care (Dinani,et al.,2010; Benton and Roy, 2008). They can provide more person-centred and specialist treatments options and have links with other community services, probation and the police (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2014).

Community care is thought to lead to more timely treatments with more accessible support teams and services that those with ID would struggle to access in prison (Bradley, 2009). It can also lead to greater well-being and support as individuals are in a less restrictive environment and are closer to their social networks, acting as a protective factor against further reoffending (Benton & Roy, 2008; Bradley, 2009). Furthermore, it has been indicated significant financial savings would be achieved for the criminal justice system by reducing inpatient care and increasing community services and sentences, in addition to reducing the demand on prison spaces (Bradley, 2009; Benton & Roy, 2008).

To date, very few studies have used TOI to examine attitudes towards offenders, with none examining attitudes towards offenders with ID.

Coercive control (which is a form of intimate partner violence [IPV]) is a significant public health concern affecting millions of people throughout the world. Whilst exposure to IPV in childhood and adolescence has been shown to contribute to the intergenerational transmission of IPV, this alone does not explain IPV. A range of bio-psycho-social factors contribute to IPV which includes exposure to peer influence on social media platforms, whereby research has shown this online expression of views and opinions can change off-line behaviour. This has extended to not only purchasing products but also influencing attitudes in relation to illegal behaviour such as sexual harassment and sexual assault. The purpose of this study was to explore what young people are being exposed to online, through social media, surrounding coercive controlling behaviour.

According to Fazel et al. (2021), real-time social media data can provide important information about trends in public attitudes and attitudes towards events in the news. This study used data from Twitter to explore what adolescents are being exposed to online surrounding coercive and controlling behaviour. The data was subsequently analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Three overarching themes were found in relation to coercive control: the Educator; Gaslighter; and the Comedian. Two of these were forms of secondary victimisation.

Social media provides a powerful platform through which people’s attitudes and behaviours may be influenced both positively and negatively in relation to socio-political issues (Lozano-Blasco et al., 2022). The implications of the findings in this study are discussed with recommendations for how social media platforms could be supported to act prevent them from being used as a tool to facilitate the distribution of hate speech in relation to IPV and instead be used as a platform for psycho-education.

Previous research in this field has tended to focus on the impact of IPV and the prevalence rates of IPV in young people, but not on the different types of information young people may be exposed to surrounding relationships on social media platforms.

This systematic review sought to examine the research body on acquisitive offending among female offenders, specifically exploring what factors may take females closer towards engaging in acquisitive offending and what factors may support desistance from this behaviour.

A systematic review was conducted, using the recommended guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. A total of 8,129 initial articles were identified from the search terms, 77 articles were deemed suitable to meet the inclusion criteria and are explored in the results section. Papers were screened for quality appraisal and risk of bias.

Ten factors were identified that took females closer towards offending. Five factors were identified that took females away from offending. Based on the findings, four typologies of female acquisitive offenders were identified: short-term orientation (adolescent); mental health orientation; life-course persistent (theft); and acquisitive diversity (including robbery and burglary).

Future research would benefit from exploring a more rich understanding of the mechanisms that underpin why females engage in acquisitive offending and what factors contribute towards their desistance. A wider range of bio-psycho-social factors, which may increase the risk of acquisitive offending, should also be considered in future research alongside ways in which interventions may be gender-responsive.

This review provides insight into the differing functions and typologies of female acquisitive offending. Interventions for each of these typologies are considered within the review.