RESUMO
There is a growing body of research on the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs in a Young Offenders' Institution (YOI). The aim of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of rugby training as a rehabilitation intervention in a YOI in the United Kingdom. Young adult males (n=46) currently serving sentences at the YOI were split into two groups, intervention (n=25; mean age, 19.64±0.81 years) and no intervention (n=21; mean age, 19.76±0.89). Participants completed the Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA) instrument at three different time cycles and then pre/post for intervention group. Additionally, qualitative interviews (one to one and focus groups) were carried out with the intervention and no intervention groups during the same cycles of the study. The results of questionnaire analysis showed no significant difference in MCAA measures taken before and after rugby intervention. Interestingly, the intervention group showed more procriminal attitudes on their responses compared to the no intervention group. Finally, analysis of the 3 cycles of data collected showed that the time of the year the questionnaire was completed has a significant impact on the responses given. In contrast, the qualitative interviews showed a very positive change of attitude towards rehabilitation from the intervention group after rugby training. The implications of the results in relation to studies aimed at evaluation of the intervention programs in YOI are discussed.
RESUMO
The presented study investigated the extent to which engaging in a therapeutic sporting programme in males with severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD) improves the debilitating behaviours commonly associated with ASD. Furthermore, the views of parents of the autistic participants were assessed concerning the effectiveness of the programme. Participants were eight 13- to 20-year-old males born in the United Kingdom from a school and sports college for pupils with severe learning difficulties. The selection was using volunteer sampling from the "Monday Club" initiative, run by Saracens Sports Foundation in partnership with a local school and specialist sports college. The Gilliam Autism Rating Scale, 3rd edition was administered to identify and measure the severity of ASD behaviours at four time periods namely: at programme entry as the baseline (Time 1, T1), a second time after 8 weeks (Time 2, T2), a third time after 16 weeks (Time 3, T3), and a fourth time post programme (Time 4, T4). The results showed that for the more severe cases of ASD (Autism Index >101) there was no positive change in subscale performance from T1 to T2. For milder cases (Autism Index, 71-100) there were subtle non-significant improvements on the subscale scores from T1 to T2. Of the 6 subscales at T2, emotional responses, cognitive style, and maladaptive speech approached significance at the P=0.05 level. At T3 and T4, there was also no statistically significant improvement in ASD behaviours compared to the baseline for either condition. Finally parents' were "very satisfied" with their child's participation in the physical activity programme.
