“IF HE COULD DO BETTER,HE WOULD HAVE CHOSEN TO DO SO” : A qualitative study to investigate staff members’ perception of controllability,responsibility, and police reporting of violence in residential care settings forpeople with intellectual disability.

Sammanfattning

Acts of violence towards staff committed by people with intellectual disabilities in residential care settings are common. In the Swedish legal system, the requirement for criminal intent is the same for everyone over 15 years. This creates a gap between the law and the perceived ability to take criminal responsibility in this group since the consequences of the intellectual disability can be functioning on a lower level than your chronological age. This study aims to explore the factors in reasoning about controllability, responsibility and police reporting in violent situations, with a focus on staff members working in residential care settings for people with intellectual disabilities. The method for this was 7 semi-structured interviews with staff members working in care settings where violence and threats were occurring. The thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that experience of violence was common and that communication problems are perceived as a common cause. Responsibility in violent situations was perceived as something that needs to be shared between the person displaying it and the staff involved. The reasoning around police reporting of violence shows that staff takes both the person’s ability to take responsibility and level of understanding into account and in most cases this reasoning led to the decision not to file a police report. Another factor considered in staff reasoning is the legal process and the consequences of entering it for a person with intellectual disability. This implies that staff is trying to take responsibility in practice for the gap between the law and their perception of responsibility in the person they support. The study concludes that there is a need for addressing this on a governmental level as well as on a practical level in care settings, to improve the work environment and strengthen the legal certainty for people with intellectual disabilities.