The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the experiences of individuals with a criminal history of participating in a community life skills and work-readiness programme.,Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven individuals that have a criminal history who were participating, or had previously participated, in a community life skills and work-readiness programme. This data was analysed by interpretative phenomenological analysis.,Four superordinate themes emerged, these were: “need to change”, “changing identity”, “giving back to the community” and “a sense of belonging”. These themes are discussed in relation to desistance literature and the Good Lives Model.,This research identifies through the participants’ narratives that engaging with the programme appeared to facilitate the desistance process. The importance of community programmes that provide participants skills and social integration must be acknowledged.,There is limited research on the experiences of forensic services users’ experiences of community programmes, especially those that are not aimed specifically at ex-offenders. The results of this research can be used to enhance services and identify further research areas.

中文翻译：

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探索法医服务使用者参与社区生活技能和工作准备计划的经验

本文的目的是提供对参与社区生活技能和工作准备计划的有犯罪记录的个人的经验的了解。半结构化访谈是对参与调查的七名具有犯罪记录的个人进行的，或曾经参加过社区生活技能和工作准备计划。通过解释现象学分析对这些数据进行了分析。出现了四个上级主题：“需要改变”，“改变身份”，“回馈社区”和“归属感”。这些主题将与停战文献和《美好生活》相关地进行讨论。本研究通过参与者的叙述来确定参与该计划似乎有助于停战过程。必须承认提供参与者技能和社会融合的社区计划的重要性。关于法医服务使用者的社区计划经验的研究有限，特别是那些并非专门针对前罪犯的经验。这项研究的结果可用于增强服务并确定进一步的研究领域。