Analysis of motivation in people with mild learning disabilities (mental handicap) who set fires

Ten people with mild learning disabilities (mild mental handicap) who had all set fires and had been admitted to a hospital facility for people with challenging behaviours were interviewed about their perceptions of events, feelings and cognitions prior to and after setting fires. They were also asked to rate their excitement/upset in a series of fire-related situations. Results showed that people could identify reliably the events, feelings and cognitions prior to fire-setting but were less reliable at identifying consequences. Most commonly, people had felt angry prior to setting fires but it was also common to feel not listened to, sad or depressed. Multiple factors were relevant for most people. Some people identified the excitement of the fire as relevant and these people gave the highest ratings on the fire-related situations schedule and scored higher than controls on this schedule. Implications for treatment are discussed.