| Summary: | The study of sex offenders has generated a substantial body of literature detailing their treatment, management, prevalence and effects. A limited amount of research has demonstrated the experiences of disclosure from the perspective of the offender. The study aimed to develop a model to understand how offenders manage disclosure. This study attempts to delineate the factors that influence their self-disclosure and explore the consequences for the offender, focusing on emotional well being, relationships and recidivism. Six male participants, all convicted of sex offences, were recruited from a Community Treatment Programme. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a semistructured interview schedule based on a Grounded Theory approach. The Grounded Theory method gave rise to a number of inter-related categories. These were integrated to develop a tentative model that explains, in a context of heightened public scrutiny and hate towards sex offenders that disclosure is unsafe. The main attribute of disclosure was the offenders' fear. Fear was motivated by the threat of exposure, rejection, violence and vigilante attack. Key findings included: factors that influence their self-disclosure, strategies used to manage the process, and the consequences, both emotional and practical, for the disclosing individual. The study revealed pathways that link the fear of disclosure to consequent negative emotional states and the increased likelihood for recidivism. This process is affected by both society's perceptions of their stigma and the offenders' own perceptions. On the basis of the findings, it would appear important that clinicians develop an empathic response to an offender's perception of personal and interpersonal risks relating to disclosure, especially the methods by which they attempt to protect themselves, by adopting particular strategies to manage disclosure encounters
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