Attributions of aggressive behaviour in people with mild intellectual disabilities to borderline intellectual functioning in a secure forensic setting

Aggressive behaviour is often displayed by people with intellectual disabilities (ID) in forensic healthcare settings. Research on the causal beliefs (i.e. attributions) of aggressive behaviour are commonly studied from the perspective of support staff. As aggressive behaviour is mostly a product of interaction between the person showing it and their environment, it is valuable to include the perspective of people with ID as well. Four group interviews, consisting of a total of 20 people with mild ID or borderline intellectual functioning and forensic and/or psychiatric problems, were held to explore incidents of aggressive behaviour. The attributions were analysed using the Leeds Attributional Coding System. Clients almost equally distributed the causes of aggressive behaviour to themselves (intrapersonal domain; 48.0%) and to other persons (interpersonal domain; 45.7%). There is a distinction related to the attributions given between the client as agent (intrapersonal domain), being uncontrollable (72.1%) and global (68.9%), versus other persons as agent (interpersonal domain), being controllable (86.2%) and specific (56.9%). This analysis of attributions regarding aggressive behaviour given by clients resulted in information on causal beliefs of aggressive behaviour from the perspective of clients. Incorporating their views will possibly increase involvement and commitment in support and treatment.