Perspectives on treatment outcome in adolescent sexual offending: A study of a community-based treatment programme

Interviews were conducted with clinicians and 22 participants who had completed treatment with the Northside Inter-Agency Project (NIAP), a community based treatment programme for adolescent sexual abusers. Clinicians reported that a majority of adolescents completed all steps of the programme and a majority of families had been highly supportive of adolescents' participation in treatment. Difficulties with the management of conflict, the regulation of negative emotions, and cognitive deficits were the principal areas in which clinicians judged these adolescents to have problems in addition to their sexually abusive behaviour patterns. Despite having these difficulties, two thirds of cases were judged by therapists to be at low risk of reoffending following treatment. In just over half of cases, adolescents reported entering situations,following treatment, which placed them at risk for reoffending, but in an anonymous questionnaire none reported sexually re-offending.