Promoting successful schooling for young offenders with ADH(D). A co-produced evaluation of the Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills (HOPS) intervention in Swedish social services.

How to prevent young offenders from turning to the path of a continued criminal lifestyle is currently highly relevant in the Swedish debate. Successful schooling is a well-established factor for preventing negative development.

One group that is overrepresented among young offenders and is at risk for school failure are young offenders that either are diagnosed with or have symptoms of ADHD. We refer to this group as ADH(D) young offenders.

In Sweden qualified mentorship is a frequently used measure for young offenders (in Swedish “särskilt kvalificerad kontaktperson” ,SKKP). In 2020, 86 persons were assigned to SKKP in Stockholm.

Out of this 62%, reported school-related problems, 49% reported ADHD symptoms, and 36% reported being diagnosed with a neuropsychiatric disorder.

The aim and research questions for this project are a result of continuous dialogues with practitioners and decision-makers in social services from three major Swedish cities.

In these dialogues concerns regarding this group and the urge for school-oriented interventions for ADH(D) young offenders have been a re-occurring theme.

In collaboration with practice the Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills intervention (HOPS, Langberg et al. 2018) were identified as adequate for ADH(D) young offenders and feasible for implementation in social services.

To continue the co-production out from which this project has been developed, and to give priority to effectiveness and real-world feasibility the objective of the current project is a theory-driven, co-produced evaluation of HOPS.

The aim is that this will result in a revised version of HOPS for ADH(D) young offenders in the context of social service.

The project will be a close collaboration with social workers, decision-makers from social service, teachers, ADH(D) young offenders, and their parents.

The results will contribute to the knowledge base for highly needed school-oriented interventions for ADH(D) young offenders in social services.