Chief Scientist Office Final report form
Form 4
CSO reference number: 08-09/10
Please complete this form in Verdana 10 point font size Project title: Understanding and preventing male youth violence in Scotland: An exploration of the feasibility of data linkage and a parenting programme in Young Offenders Institution Polmont.
Start date: February 2010
Finish date: January 2011
Investigators: Professor Peter Donnelly
Professor Alastair Leyland
Dr Damien J. Williams
Ms Eric Nicholls
Professor Paul Boyle
Dr Frank Popham Summary
Violence is an important Public Health problem and a contributing factor in sustaining health inequalities in Scotland. This proof of concept study explored thepossibility ofestablishing a future long-term, cohort study involving a group of violent young males in Scotland which would seek to understand antecedents to violence, reduce violent recidivism, and tacklehealth inequalities. In addition, the current studyalso explores the feasibility of a parenting programme in Young Offenders Institution Polmont that could aid violence prevention efforts since evidence shows that improving the early year’s environment and addressing parenting among at-risk individuals may assist in breaking the cycle of violence.The broad aims were to explore the potential to collect information from, and link secondary sources of information (i.e. personal records) for incarcerated violent young men in Scotland’s sole male Young Offenders Institution, and explore the development of a parenting programme for this population. While there were some enforced changes to the proposed methods, the study was successful in identifying barriers and opportunities in relation to any future cohort study. Data available through the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and Community Initiative to Reduce Violence mean that it is possible to access and potentially link an individual’s records inside and outside prison thereby facilitating the follow-up of a prison and community sample of violent, at-risk young men. Moreover, opportunities of working with various agencies that operate in YOI Polmont mean that primary data (objective and subjective) can be collected both during custody and upon release. Finally, discussions with SPS and YOI Polmont highlighted an interest in a parenting programme for the young men. Further, an institution–wide, selfcompleted survey and follow-up interviews with a sample of incarcerated young men allowed us to assess what would and would not be acceptable to them, and also to explore some of the issues that related to their own incarceration. We believe this will assist us in developing a programme that best suits the needs of incarcerated violent young men and therefore has the greatest potential for success.
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