Why is there a need for a brief intervention designed specifically for fire involvement?

Excerpted from Part 1: About the Program - TAPP-C: Clinician’s Manual for Preventing and Treating Juvenile Fire Involvement.

Many of the children and adolescents who have been involved with starting fires or playing with matches or lighters also have other clinically significant difficulties (Kolko, 1996). These difficulties often include disruptive behaviour disorders, such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD), as well as more general family, peer and/or academic difficulties. While these difficulties are important for treatment planning, firesetting and other types of fire involvement are important to address early in treatment for a number of reasons.

First, and most importantly, all types of fire involvement, regardless of motivation or intention, have the potential to cause significant injury or even death, not only to the child involved, but also to others in the vicinity, house or building. In addition, all types of fire involvement have the potential to cause significant property damage. Because of the associated risk of injury, caregivers, children and adolescents may be more easily motivated to address fire involvement than some of the other difficulties that may be present.

Second, fire involvement requires fire-starting materials and opportunities to engage in fire-related behaviours. These aspects of fire involvement provide specific and concrete targets for intervention that may provide greater opportunities for successful intervention than more general behavioural difficulties, such as poor peer relations.

Lastly, in many cases, fire involvement is a specific instance of a child or adolescent’s broader-based behavioural difficulties. As such, it provides an opportunity for caregivers, children and adolescents to develop skills that are transferable to the management of other problems. Once learned, these skills can be used to address some of the other difficulties they may be experiencing.

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