Background

Harmful sexual behavior (HSB) displayed by children and young people under the age of 18 has been described as developmentally inappropriate, may be harmful towards self or others, or be abusive towards another child, young person, or adult. Early intervention and treatment completion are crucial to cease HSB, reduce impacts and address underlying issues for the child who has displayed HSB. Considerable shame attaches to seeking help for this stigmatized behavior which may result in dropout from support services. Understanding young people and caregivers' experiences of what facilitates or hinders their engagement with support services is therefore critical to preventing re-occurrence of HSB and keeping children safe.

Objective

This article draws on the first-hand experience of young people and caregivers to address the question: What have they found helpful and unhelpful when engaging with services for harmful sexual behavior?

Participants and setting

Participants were recruited from public health and youth justice services in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The 31 participants included 11 young people (aged 14 to 17) and 20 caregivers (parents, foster or kinship carers).

Methods

Qualitative data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews, following which thematic analysis was conducted.

Results

Data analysis identified three helpful responses: (1) non-judgmental recognition of crisis; (2) child-centred and family-focused orientation; and (3) multi-dimensional interventions. Unhelpful responses included: (1) closed doors (an inability to access a service) (2) stigmatization of HSB; and (3) reduced caregivers' autonomy.

Conclusions

Greater involvement of caregivers, non-stigmatizing language and coordinated responses between generalist and specialist services are needed to facilitate service engagement.

中文翻译：

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让年轻人及其照顾者参与有害性行为后的支持服务：定性分析

背景

儿童和 18 岁以下青少年表现出的有害性行为 (HSB) 被描述为发育不当，可能对自己或他人有害，或虐待其他儿童、青少年或成人。早期干预和完成治疗对于停止 HSB、减少影响和解决显示 HSB 的儿童的潜在问题至关重要。为这种可能导致退出支持服务的污名化行为寻求帮助会带来相当大的耻辱。因此，了解年轻人和看护者对促进或阻碍他们参与支持服务的体验对于防止 HSB 再次发生和确保儿童安全至关重要。

客观的

本文借鉴年轻人和看护者的第一手经验来解决以下问题：在参与针对有害性行为的服务时，他们发现什么有帮助和无帮助？

参与者和设置

参与者是从澳大利亚新南威尔士州的公共卫生和青年司法服务部门招募的。31 名参与者包括 11 名年轻人（14 至 17 岁）和 20 名照顾者（父母、寄养或亲属照顾者）。

方法

通过个人半结构化访谈收集定性数据，然后进行主题分析。

结果

数据分析确定了三个有用的回应：（1）对危机的非判断性认识；(2) 以儿童为中心和以家庭为中心的导向；(3) 多维干预。无益的反应包括：（1）闭门造车（无法获得服务）（2）对 HSB 的污名化；(3) 照顾者的自主权减少。

结论

需要护理人员更多地参与、非污名化的语言以及全科和专科服务之间的协调反应，以促进服务参与。