Effects of emotion recognition training on aggressive behaviour in antisocial youth

INTERVENTION: Participants will be randomised to receive either active or placebo emotion recognition training. The computerised intervention comprises three phases: first assessment, training and second assessment. In all three phases, faces on a happy to angry morph sequence are presented briefly, and participants have to make a two‐alternative forced‐choice judgement about the emotion of the face. In the first assessment phase, the point at which the participant changes from perceiving ambiguous faces as happy rather than angry is calculated. In the training phase the procedure is similar but feedback is provided after each trial. In the active condition this feedback is designed to shift the point at which the participant changes from perceiving ambiguous faces as happy rather than angry. In the placebo condition this feedback is designed not to change this point. In the second assessment phase, the point at which the participant changes from perceiving ambiguous faces as happy rather than angry is again calculated, to confirm the effect of the training phase. Participants will complete the computerised intervention four times over the course of one week. CONDITION: Aggression among juvenile offenders. ; Mental and Behavioural Disorders ; Other problems related to lifestyle PRIMARY OUTCOME: Staff Rating Scale of Young Person?s Aggression ‐ this scale is based on a measure used by McMurran (2007), which examined aggression in adult male offenders, modified for use with adolescents. It comprises six behavioural categories: ; 1. Looking at someone in an aggressive way; 2. Deliberately getting in someone?s way; 3. Being verbally aggressive; 4. Being aggressive in front of someone without touching them (throwing objects, spitting, slamming doors etc.); 5. Hitting, punching or kicking someone; 6. Using something as a weapon to hit someone; ; Each participants? key worker will be required to make a judgment about how often the participant has displayed the corresponding aggressive behaviour during the day, and rate each of the six items on a scale of 0 (not present at all) to 100 (present all the time). The measure will be completed daily for a month pre‐intervention to establish a base rate of aggression, and daily for a month post‐intervention to assess whether there has been any behaviour change. INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Juvenile offenders detained at a secure children?s home in South Wales 2. Aged between 10 and 17 years old 3. A score of at least 20 on an aggression rating scale SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. Participant Behaviour Diary; This diary is a self‐report version of the Staff Rating Scale described above. The participants record any instances of aggressive behaviour they display during each day of the week and are instructed to tick the appropriate box each time they acted in an aggressive manner, defined by one of the six categories. The measure will be completed daily for a month pre‐intervention to establish a base rate of aggression, and daily for a month post‐intervention to assess whether there has been any behaviour change. ; ; 2. Frequency of ?Talk‐Times?; A ?talk‐time? is an early intervention strategy used by members of staff when they identify that a young person is starting to become disruptive or unruly. Each ?talk‐time? is noted in the staff daily recordings on each of the young people and this record will be summarized daily for a period of one month pre‐intervention to establish a base rate of aggression, and or a month post‐intervention to assess whether there has been any behaviour change. ; ; 3. Frequency of Sanctions; A sanction is a formal means of reproving the young people for any infringement of the unit rules. This record will be summarized daily for a period of one month prior to the intervention to establish a base rate of aggressive behaviour, and for a month after completion of the intervention to assess whether there has been any change in aggressive behaviour over this period. ; ; 4. Frequency of Restraints; A restraint is defined as any occasion when one or more staff members have to physically manage the behaviour of a young person. When a restraint takes place an official incident form is completed detailing the specifics of the event. This record will be summarized daily for a period of one month pre‐intervention to establish a base rate of aggression, and for a month post‐intervention to assess whether there has been any behaviour change. ; ; 5. Frequency of Bedroom Isolations; If a young person?s behaviour on the unit is placing himself/herself or others in risk of harm he or she may be isolated in his or her bedroom. As soon as a young person is isolated in his or her bedroom a monitoring form is initiated. This record will be summarized daily for a period of one month pre‐intervention to establish a base rate of aggression, and or a month post‐intervention to assess whether there has been any behaviour change. ; ; 6. Early Release Decision; Those young people sentenced to custody by the courts and serving terms of six months or more are eligible to apply for early release. A decision on whether to grant this is taken by the Youth Justice Board and is based on the young person?s progress whilst in custody, including the number of aggressive or violent incidents he or she has been involved in. Information about this decision will be collected from official records.