"If you're kind to me, I'll be kind to you." Compassion to self and others as a dynamic and relational process among young people who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour: A Grounded Theory.

The past decade has seen increasing research interest in compassion to self and others, both as a construct and a likely precipitant of psychological wellbeing. A growing literature base suggests that psychotherapeutic interventions aimed at increasing self-compassion can help to alleviate negative effects often associated with shame and self-criticism. Compassion-focused interventions have subsequently been proposed for populations likely to experience heightened shame. Despite the interest in this area, only limited research has attempted to explore how compassion is understood and experienced among varying populations. Research that has been undertaken has tended to adopt quantitative approaches, utilising self-report measures validated with well-educated, often academic, populations. There is clearly a need for the construct of compassion to be explored with other populations, particularly those who may be disadvantaged and/or at risk of heightened levels of shame. One such population is young people who have come to the attention of services for engaging in harmful sexual behaviour (HSB). This research therefore intended to fill this gap and extend the existing literature base on compassion by employing a qualitative approach. Nine young people (8 males, 1 female) aged 14-18, who were receiving input from youth offending services for HSB, were recruited for this research. Each participant took part in a one-off interview where they were asked about their understanding and experiences of compassion to and from self and others. Adopting a Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology, data were analysed through an iterative process of constant comparison, leading to the construction of a substantive theoretical model grounded in the data. The resultant model explicates the dynamic and relational process of compassion to self and others experienced by young people who have engaged in HSB. The model is considered in relation to existing literature and implications for clinical practice are discussed, along with directions for future research.