Schema profiles of mentally disordered sex offenders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Schema Profiles of Mentally Disordered Sex Offenders: A comparison between adult versus child victim offenders
IRAS ID
143914
Contact name
Michael Woodcock
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway University of London
Research summary
This project will examine the presence of maladaptive schemas (a cognitive structure whose contents include attitudes, beliefs about the self and others, and rules and assumptions, centred on a coherent theme, and which has the function of directing cognitive processing such as interpretations of events) within mentally disordered sexual offenders (MDSOs). Two types of schemas will be measured; Offending Schemas and Young’s Early Maladaptive Schemas. The comparison groups will be based on the type off offence, e.g. those who offend against adults, and those who offend against children.
Fifty two MDSOs will be recruited through 5 low/medium/high secure hospitals around London. Information about the offences will be gathered through a brief assessment and their medical notes. Each will then be given a ‘My Life (v.2)’ questionnaire (Mann & Hollin, 2010) (which assesses for Offending Schemas), and a Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S3) (Young, 2005) which assesses for Early Maladaptive Schemas. Between-group comparisons can then take place between the clients to assess whether there is any association between the Schemas and the offence type e.g. those who offend against adults and those who offend against children. A correlation between the two measures will also be conducted to see if there is an association between the two types of schemas.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/0154
Date of REC Opinion
23 Apr 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion