Elien Neimeijer

66 Abstract Purpose: No studies have provided an in-depth account of how individuals with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning (MID-BIF; IQ 50-85) perceive their group climate in a secure forensic setting. Giving voice to these service users may provide relevant insights for secure forensic settings. Design: Interpretative Phenome- nological Analysis (IPA) was used to explore what individuals with MID-BIF experience with regard to their group climate. Findings: In the interviews about the four domains of group climate (i.e., repression, support, growth and atmosphere), five overarching dimensions appeared: 1) autonomy, 2) uniformity, 3) recognition, 4) competence, and 5) dignity. Depending on the person and the (treatment) context in which he or she resides, these five dimensions relate to all four factors of the group climate instrument. Value: From the perspective of individuals with MID-BIF this study contributes by providing a framework to “fine-tune” group climate on five dimensions. Training sociotherapists to be sensitive to interpret ambiguous signals on these dimensions can contribute to opti- mizing group climate in secure forensic settings. Introduction A therapeutic group climate is related to positive therapeutic outcomes, such as motivation, coping, therapeutic alliance, recidivism, and organisational outcomes in- cluding staff and client satisfaction and less aggressive incidents (Gaab, Brazil, De Vries, & Bulten, 2020; Willets, Mooney, & Blagden, 2014). Moreover, the Dutch government underlines the importance of a safe and humane climate that encourages self-reliance and a safe return to society in its policy for correctional settings (Boone, Althoff, & Koenraadt, 2016). Therefore, secure forensic settings monitor their group climate as a standard practice to inform their on-going quality improvement (De Vries, Brazil, Van der Helm, Verkers, & Bulten, 2018; Neimeijer, Roest, Van der Helm, & Didden, 2019; Tonkin, 2015). An example of a monitoring instrument is the Group Climate Instru- ment (GCI), which was developed to measure group climate in youth prisons and se- cure residential treatment facilities and is nowadays used in youth prisons, secure youth care facilities, forensic mental hospitals, adult prisons, and residential care facilities for individuals with mild intellectual disabilities (Van der Helm, Stams, & Van der Laan,