ABSTRACT
This study focuses much on the
initial phase to develop a preventive strategy (Greater London Authority, 2017)
targeting youth of ages between 13-15 years at risk of criminal activity in
North borough of Croydon.The study aimed three Northern wards of Croydon where
criminal activities are said to be rampant
(Safer Croydon. 2017). These wards frequently score in top 5% in multiple domains of deprived
areas. Youth crime is a national and global concern and has negative impacts on
both social and economic aspects of the community affected. It is evident that
offense can limit one's social and work life because of fear of visiting areas
said to be crime infested. The criminal activities such as knife crime can
cause physical harm. There is, therefore, the need to propose a sustainable
preventive measure to curb the progression of crime among the youth and those at
risk of becoming criminals.
COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION
BAME is a community living in
Croydon town center and covers close to 50.7% of its population. The large
population in Croydon lives in places which are considered to be 10% of the
most deprived areas in the whole of London country. Crime is
said to be high because of occupational deprivation to meaningful occupations
and lack of opportunities. Criminal activities are said to take place
during daytime, between 3 pm and 1 am and crime rate peaks during Sundays and
Saturdays. Approximately 10,698 criminal cases were recorded by August 2018;
with violent sexual behaviors ranked top criminal activity followed by
anti-social behavior and the least is bicycle theft. The age between 15-29years
is the most affected age bracket with illegal activities with a high number of
males than female criminals. Under the health and disability domain index,
Areas in the north of Borough; Broad Green, Selhurst, and West Thornton, have
moved into the 5% most deprived areas since the 2010 index of multiple
deprivations.
Role of Occupational Therapy in
curbing crime.
Occupational therapy is defined as
the evaluation and interposition to repossess, grow or preserve the essential
activities, occupations of individual persons, groups or society. The primary
goals of Occupational Therapy are to show clinical performance and to apprehend
the purpose of having a meaningful profession which are the most critical
elements for a self-reliant life. The roles of an occupational therapist are to
assist people to develop their capability to perform different daily tasks to
improve their living standards and independence. ( Creek,2010) The
occupational therapists also help disabled people as they require intervention
in occupation participation in meaningful activities to improve their living
standards.Occupational therapy usually have the following objectives;
To participate in education
schedules for families and patients and give them crucial information and
resources for self-reliant living.
To provide evaluation and treatment
of performance elements such as visual integration.
To provide an evaluation of occupational
production in areas of free-living, leisure and social skills.
To carry out occupational Therapy
service activities with great respect to the legal and expert standards in the
certification.
To function as an interdisciplinary
member of National Rehabilitation Hospital and ensure a good approach to
patient care delivery.
To measure, establish and improve
the services which are provided for in occupational therapy
Community-based therapy grants the
occupational therapists permission to employ clients and other participants
such as agencies, schools, families, daycare, day treatment, and this
participation help improve the results. Community-based therapy helps the
therapist with the knowledge of the actual happenings in the community and
structure important intervention tactics which aids the clients to participate
in the process (Creek and Lougher,
2011) Community based therapy cuts
across all the categories of Occupational therapy practices, e.g., from mental
health to spiritual. The community-based services include offering a wide range
of health services, provision of direct and indirect services such introduction
of collective healthcare in home and community agencies. The following are the
components of community-based occupational therapy; educational approach: - it
is committed to offering crucial skills to individuals to enable them to
participate in meaningful opportunities. The second component is the
restoration of care and regular assessments to promote individuals ability to
function to their full potential thus increasing self –reliance, and
self-esteem.
METHODS OF INFORMATION GATHERING
AND ANALYSING OF DATA.
There are two methods of gathering
information useful in conducting occupation Therapy: - Qualitative and
quantitative research methods. Qualitative research is a scientific research
method used by researchers to gather non-numerical data such as opinions,
reasons behind a phenomenon or beliefs. The main qualitative research methods are
surveys, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups.
Survey Research method.
Survey research method; refers to
the data collection methods used in researching for descriptive and predictive
information through questions and responses. Over the last 40 years, it is
evident that Occupational Therapy has employed survey methods. The survey is
categorized into two categories namely Questionnaires and interview. Through
survey methods and connection of summary statistical data, it is possible to
gather information from a large population. Our interest could be to examine
why the crime rate is so high in Croydon. For clear results, the population to
be studied must be defined. In the given case, it could be the number of people
who are victims of crime who were either sexually harassed or injured by knives
or shot by the gun.
With knowledge of how to examine
the large population could be difficult and close to impossible, a random
sample population is taken from the whole community to represent different
characters. An occupational therapist should point out the best method to use
either a questionnaire or interview. In the case given, we want to know the
reasons for the increase in criminal activities. A survey is the best research
method to employ because it can reach a large population within a short time
and it’s less expensive. Collection of information through questionnaire obeys
this process. The decision on the intended information; the occupational
therapist must decide the information to be gathered from the population before
formulating the survey. The information needed here therapist could be the
causes and results of occupational injustice. After the decision of
information, types of questions to be asked during the gathering are determined.
The questions should be appropriate and easily understandable. The shorter they
are, the better. The fast version of the questionnaire is written followed by
reviewing and revising to estimate their appropriateness. The questions must be
neat and easy to read. A pretest is then conducted to determine how best this
tool can help gather the intended information. The last bit is editing the
questionnaire where needed.
An occupational therapist has the
option to select either of the research designs; Cross-sectional or
longitudinal survey. A cross-sectional survey is where the random sample of the
population is selected on one point in time while in a longitudinal survey,
samples are picked at different in time (Taylor,
2007). This is the best design to use
in this survey since it shows the changes that have occurred over time. The advantages of using the survey research
method are that it usually has a high representation of a large population and
it's likely to get actual information. It costs less amount of resources to
survey the occupational therapist only need a sample population and it’s much
convenient to administer to a larger community either through by email or fax.
Lastly, it produces clear results since the questions are standardized.On the
other hand, it’s inflexible since it cannot be changed throughout the
information gathering period. It’s not suitable for controversial
considerations, questions which are controversial cannot be precisely be
answered (Scaffa and Reitz, 2013)
The occupational therapist can also
use the quantitative research method to gather statistical information about
the population. In the case, the statistical information could be the number of
clinics available in each of the deprived areas such as Broad Green and
Selhurst. This will provide evidence of the distribution of the health
facilities in the deprived areas.
A quick highlight on the interview
as a method of research.
An interview is a method of
qualitative research method of collecting nonnumeric information which involves
a conversation and verbal questionnaire between an interviewer and interviewee.
The interview method could either be structured, semi-structured or unstructured.
A formal interview involves asking the relevant questions with an intention to
know a sure thing or a situation for a specific population of interest. It's
easy and time conscious to administer the questions. Right interview questions
are simple to understand and as short as possible. An example of an interview
question that a therapist is; who is an occupational therapist? Or what are the
roles of occupational therapy in society?
The disadvantage of using this method is that only a little information
that can be gathered due to the limited number of participants. An interview
could be unstructured. The questions are not well structured, and the
conversation cannot have a smooth flow. The first response made by the
interviewee determines what the second question would be. This kind of
interview is hard to manage and so much time-consuming. The information
recorded during an unstructured interview is bound to have errors. The last
type of conversation is the semi-structured interview. It contains several
relevant questions that help state the problem. However, this method allows the
interviewer and the interviewee to expound a point for detailed information.
MAJOR FINDINGS FROM THE RESEARCH
Poor housing and living conditions;
most people from the BAME community live in 5% most deprived areas of North
Borough. The areas are considered to be "Low super output Areas"
meaning they have little contribution to the economy. The areas have high
population thus poor housing and living conditions. These have greatly
contributed to increased crime youth.
Schooling in Low Super Output Areas
of North Borough is poor because there are no education facilities like
vocational centers. The areas have been deprived off resources to set up
schools. This has led to idleness and boredom amongst the youth who prefer to
engage in unfavorable behaviors like sexual violence.
Economic deprivation/ Income
deprivation is another cause of increased crime rate in BAME community. The
LSOAs have been deprived for eight years. Croydon is categorized among 20% most
deprived areas economically. Youth funding gives little financial support to
the youth leading to high levels of idleness and boredom.The crime rate
increased by 30%; where violent sexual behaviors dominated and the most
affected gender was women.
Health issues and disability has
hit BAME community because they receive little or no health funds. There are
high levels of mental health and learning difficulties. This has led to an
increased rate of dependency. Reports show that youth offenders in BAME have
reduced in the recent past. However, those remaining criminals are said to have
complex problems, i.e., health and education.
Stakeholders input
Croydon
Youth Offending Service- Cecilia
"We
provide a range of services, and we go to those areas where those children in
need tend to be – and where our services are relevant to them.
We
provide a holiday scheme, a BAME Forum, football clubs and other sports-based
services, arts groups as well. These tend to involve an Outreach Team who will
run 2/3 hour long sessions talking with younger people within their
communities. We are keen to get the ‘voice’ of younger people into the service
we provide.
There
is a good range of services, but we are not the service that we were ten years
ago.
There
are some family involvement / interventions. These tend to be with younger
children, and the youth teams are not so involved there – the council has been
keen to work with the third sector on that front (the voluntary and community
sector).
There
are a whole host of reasons why some younger people do not engage with our
services at all, and these are complex. A lot of these kids have complex needs,
and sometimes their basic needs are not being met. Though the youth service has
become more targeted and uses the limited resources, we have to target youths
in need."
Council
member of safer Croydon Partnership
The
council currently spends 80% of its budget on vulnerable children and adults
–this is the majority of the council's work. At risk, children could include
those not in mainstream education and unaccompanied asylum-seeker children, for
example. When we studied the lives of 60 young people killed or whose lives
were significantly altered through crime over the past few years we discovered
that they were ‘on the radar’ from an early stage: school exclusions, domestic
violence, parental attitudes, no relationship with a trusted adult, unmet
mental health needs
OCCUPATIONAL NEEDS
Support and
Empowerment during transition phase from childhood to adulthood. Increasing
independence.
Engagement
in productive and Pro-social occupations to fulfil positive roles and
responsibilities
Guidance on
breaking negative cycles of dark occupations – criminal
activity.
Occupational
balance – Establish balance across self-care, productive and leisure based
occupations.
Anger
Management and Relaxation Strategies – Youth offenders report being angry at
themselves, their families, and communities lacking confidence in local
councils and government.
KEY ISSUES AND JUSTIFICATION OF
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Occupational injustice is a concept
which is derived from occupational justice. Occupational justice refers to the
push for change either socially or economically in the community by increasing
community awareness, provision of resources and opportunities equitably to
enhance independence or self-reliance (Durocher et al. 2014
pp. 418-430) On the
other hand, injustice happens when a person(s) is denied the resources and
opportunities to take part in meaningful occupation. A 30% increase in violent
crimes were committed by the youths between the year 2012 to 2017 as a result
of usage of knife and guns as well as a mugging. It's an injustice for the
youth to have engaged themselves in criminal activities. The National Crime
Statistics show that Croydon is expected to become the most dangerous and
deprived areas in London. It is categorized into five subsections:-
Occupational apartheid; it happens when a substantial marginalized population
is denied cooperation in occupations due environmental state which limits
better health (Kielhofner, 2009). From the case study, it's evident that more
than 10000 people in Croydon are facing a lot of injustice because the area is
considered "Lower Super Output Areas." According to the Living
Environment domain, a large number of people from the BAME community lives in
the 5% most deprived areas and covers a 53% including Selhurst.
It has been deprived since 2010.
Secondly, Occupational deprivation; it develops from external factors over
time, and it prevents an individual(s) from participating in significant
occupations. It leads to a feeling of self-unproductiveness. (Kielhofner, 2009).
Third, Occupational marginalization; this happens when the decision-making
process is grabbed away from individuals trying to cooperate in occupation. In
the BAME community, occupational marginalization occurs due to inadequate
access to resources, entry to vocational training centers is low. It is stated
that the number of youths involved in criminal activities has reduced, but the
remaining victims who mostly come from the BAME community have complex issues,
e.g., health and education. The LSOAs in Croydon is believed to be the hotspot
of crime which results from functional needs such as education. The fourth
category is occupation alienation which refers to extended isolation, sense of
being unimportant which results from inadequate resources and occupational
opportunities (Creek and Lougher, 2011) The last one is professional imbalance; it happens when a large
population is unable to enjoy the economic production benefits. Many people in
BAME community are engaged in dark occupations due to occupational deprivation
which is a result of societal denial on many fronts.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusively, the context majorly
focused on youth crime in the community as a major problem. Criminal activities
in BAME community is greatly contributed by risk factors which include
deprivation of education resources in the LSOAs, poor living and housing
conditions and also lack of financial support from the youth funding agencies.
The primary goal of occupational therapy is to give sufficient services to the
individuals in the community to improve their ability to perform their tasks
and live independently.Occupational therapy in a community comprised of
different people with different beliefs and different races is important as it
helps them participate in meaningful occupation and opportunities. I have
discussed a case of BAME community which lives in Croydon North of Borough
which is said to be deprived of resource making the rates of crime to increase.Due
to these occupational deprivation, these areas are referred to Lower Super
Output Areas. These areas were mostly affected by criminal activities which are
believed to be from the Asian community. According to the research findings, a
30% increase in violent crimes were committed by the youths between the year
2012 to 2017 as a result of usage of knife and guns as well as a mugging. All
these resulted from occupational injustice which deprived them off resources
and forced them to engage in unfavorable conditions such as violent sexual
behaviors and drug abuse. My recommendations to this behavior are to set up
many vocational training facilities to kill the boredom and idleness. This can
reduce the rate of sexual violence behaviors. Survey research was conducted
between August 2017, and September 2018 and the findings were; most criminal
activities were committed by people of the 15-29 years age bracket, crime was
conducted mostly by males than female. The most committed crime was violent
sexual activity, and it is said that this resulted from boredom and idleness by
the youth due to lack of financial support from the youth agencies. The health factor among the BAME community was
a significant problem resulting from occupational deprivation. I would
recommend the establishment of many health facilities in the North of Borough
to improve health conditions of the populations. The community never enjoy
economic benefits since they are considered to be in areas of super low output.
As an occupational therapist, I would push for a restructuring of economic
benefit distribution framework of the London government to ensure that all the
citizens benefit equitably.
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