Brief Report on the Learning Disability Awareness Training delivered to Hammersmith & Fulham Metropolitan Police Force November and December 2013

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Brief Report on the Learning Disability Awareness Training delivered to Hammersmith & Fulham Metropolitan Police Force November and December 2013"

Candace Meagan Dixon
7 years ago
Views:

1 Brief Report on the Learning Disability Awareness Training delivered to Hammersmith & Fulham Metropolitan Police Force November and December BACKGROUND The training was developed following a request from the Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent Lucy D Orsi to provide short disability awareness training sessions to the H&F Metropolitan Police Force as part of the annual Borough Commander training days. 2. AIMS To support local H&F Metropolitan police officers to develop a greater awareness and understanding of the needs of people with Learning Disabilities To raise awareness of the local police about Autism Spectrum Conditions To address some of the misunderstandings police officers may have about people with learning disabilities To assist police officers to communicate effectively and appropriately with adults with learning disabilities and adults with autism 3. STRUCTURE OF TRAINING The training delivered consisted of a 45 minute training sessions delivered by members of the H&F Learning Disability Clinical Psychology Team as part of the Borough Commanders training days. This was mandatory training for the local Hammersmith & Fulham force with police officers of all ranks in attendance. The training was delivered in four separate sessions across two days to a total of 500 police of all ranks. The title of the session was: Learning Disability Awareness Training The Outline of the Session was as follows: Introductions Definition of Learning Disability Current context and hate Crime Main features of Autism Spectrum Condition Communicating with People with a Learning Disability Support from the local H&F Learning Disability team 1

Police Force as part of the annual Borough Commander training days. 2.

2 There was also: A short film of 4 people from the service user participation group Safety Net People First (part of H&F Mencap) talking about their experiences of contact with the police In addition to the presentations, the participants were given a number of handouts/posters including: What is a learning disability poster Communicating with people with learning disabilities Dos and Don ts Disability Hate Crime and the Mencap Stand by Me promise Autism at a glance guide for Criminal Justice Professionals The effectiveness and impact of the training was evaluated with a pre and post questionnaire asking about knowledge, confidence of interacting with a person with learning disabilities and a person with Autism Spectrum Condition as well as a brief attitudes questionnaire. 4. ANALYSIS OF TRAINING FEEDBACK All attendees were asked to complete a form before the training session assessing levels of current knowledge about LD, confidence in interacting with people with both autism and LD and some questions designed to assess attitudes towards adults with LD. After the session, participants answered the same questions plus an item asking them to rate the usefulness of the training. A total of 291 attendees completed the form; 19 were removed from the analysis as they had not filled in all the questions, leaving 272 for analysis. Average scores for each of the four training sessions for the measures are in the Appendix. 1. Was the training useful? Attendees were asked to rate the usefulness of the training on a scale from 1 (not at all useful) to 6 (extremely useful). The overall mean rating score was 4.2 and the graph below shows the frequency of each of the 6 responses. It is clear, therefore, that majority of the attendees found the training useful. 2

Disability Hate Crime and the Mencap Stand by Me promise Autism at a glance guide for Criminal Justice Professionals The effectiveness and impact of the training was evaluated with a pre and post

2. Current levels of knowledge Attendees were also asked to rate their current levels of knowledge of LD, both before the training session and afterwards, on a scale of 1 (no knowledge) to 6

3 2. Current levels of knowledge Attendees were also asked to rate their current levels of knowledge of LD, both before the training session and afterwards, on a scale of 1 (no knowledge) to 6 (extensive knowledge). Looking at the frequency of responses at the different scale points on the graph below, there is a noticeable shift in self-rated knowledge of LD as a result of the training session. Before the training session, the mean knowledge score was 3.5 and was 4.1 afterwards, an increase of 0.6. This difference is statistically significant (p<.001). The number of attendees scoring themselves as having no knowledge reduced by a factor of four after the session. 3. Confidence interacting with a person with LD The same pattern was found when comparing attendees self-rated levels of confidence in interacting with a person with LD before and after the training session. Again, the response scale was 1 (not confident at all) to 6 (extremely confident). Again, the graph of frequencies shows the numbers rating themselves as 4s, 5s, and 6s on the confidence scale increased, and those rating themselves at the lower end of the scale decreased. This suggests that the confidence levels of attendees increased as a result of the training session. Before the training session, the average confidence level was 4.04, compared to 4.37 after the training session, an increase of Once again, this difference was statistically significant (p<.001). 3

Looking at the frequency of responses at the different scale points on the graph below, there is a noticeable shift in self-rated knowledge of LD as a result of the training session.

4 4. Confidence communicating with a person with autism Finally, the same pattern was found for self-ratings of attendees confidence communicating with a person with autism before and after the training session. As for confidence interacting with adults with LD, the response scale was 1 (not confident at all) to 6 (extremely confident). Again, the graph of frequencies shows that the numbers rating themselves as 4s, 5s, and 6s on the confidence scale increased, and those rating themselves at the lower end of the scale decreased. This suggests that once again the confidence levels of attendees increased as a result of the training session. Before the training session, the average confidence level was 3.73, compared to 4.21 after the training session, an increase of As before, this difference was statistically significant (p<.001). It is interesting to note that average confidence levels in communicating with someone with autism were lower than those reported by attendees for communicating with LD, and that the increase after the training session was higher. 5. Qualitative feedback A small number of respondents gave qualitative feedback when asked for comments on the usefulness of the session. One respondent singled out the videos of service users: The videos with experiences of contact with police was the most valuable element Most of the other comments related to the shortness of the session, suggesting that it is difficult to give a comprehensive training in a brief session: Too quickly given but informative It was only able to give us a very basic idea of disability 4

Again, the graph of frequencies shows that the numbers rating themselves as 4s, 5s, and 6s on the confidence scale increased, and those rating themselves at the lower end of the scale decreased.

5 5. CONCLUSIONS Analysis of the feedback forms indicated that the majority of attendees found the training course useful. In spite of the relatively short duration of the sessions, the training resulted in very significant increases in self-reported knowledge about LD and confidence in interacting with people with LD. The results also indicated a significantly improved confidence in communicating with adults with autism. The qualitative feedback commented about the relatively short length of the presentation, with knock-on effects on the speed at which the information had to be delivered suggesting that future sessions could be of longer duration. The use of the service user film clips was found to be particularly powerful and beneficial. 6. RECOMMENDATIONS Further discussion needs to take place to consider the next steps to follow up on the positive impact of the training. Options currently being explored include: Further short awareness sessions to be delivered to smaller groups who were not able to access the previous sessions including to new Cadets, Designated Detention Officers, Station Officers Facilitating longer and more detailed training sessions incorporating interaction sessions for police and service users to meet, for a smaller subset of police officers who have a particular interest or likely to have increased contact with people with learning disabilities Delivering the training to other Metropolitan Police Forces Developing the service user film including a wider range of participants Producing a training DVD incorporating films of the presentations, slides and handouts with short film clips. Dr Roman Raczka Consultant Lead Clinical Psychologist Janice Williams Assistant Psychologist Dr Kate Theodore Clinical Psychologist

The results also indicated a significantly improved confidence in communicating with adults with autism.

6 APPENDIX: Average scores for each training session Usefulness of training session Current knowledge of LD Post training Pre training Post training Confidence interacting with adult with LD Pre training Post training Confidence communicating with adult with autism Pre training Post training Overall average Session 1 average Session 2 average Session 3 average Session 4 average

Post training Overall average 4.20 3.48 4.12 4.04 4.37 3.73 4.21 Session 1 average 4.29 3.49 4.10 4.09 4.36 3.88 4.09 Session 2 average 4.

Senior Educational Psychologist

Hammersmith & Fulham borough of opportunity Senior Educational Psychologist CHILDREN SERVICES Application Pack Information for applicants Job Description Person Specification Criminal Records Bureau Check