Anger management - dealing with offending behaviour

Question 1

what is am a form of

Answer 1

CBT

Question 2

who is it offered to

Answer 2

people who need in-depth therapy, violent offenders

Question 3

what did Novaco say

Answer 3

cognitive factors trigger emotional arousal and aggressive acts

Question 4

what does it aim to do

Answer 4

challenge and change each contributing factor

Question 5

how is it structured

Answer 5

twice-weekly group meeting of 1 hour held by a trained practitioner, starts with group work and focuses on social skills

Question 6

what do p’s work up to and what must every session end with

Answer 6

talking about individual triggers, must end with positive thoughts about progress

Question 7

explain step 1 - cognitive preparation and reconstruction

Answer 7

• reflect on past experiences to identify situational triggers of anger
• irrational thoughts are challenged by the therapist to work to alternative conclusions
• recognise when outburst are likely to occur
• learn negative impact of their anger on others

Question 8

explain step 2 - skill acquisition

Answer 8

• learn coping strategies e.g. relaxation, stop and think, develop cognitive flexibility, counting
• replace anger with calmness
• assertiveness training helps to deal with issues without violence and teach proper dietary regimes

Question 9

explain step 3 - application and practise

Answer 9

• positively reinforce for appropriate non-aggressive responses
• controlled environment, only by trained therapist so offender feels safe
• role play situations to mimic past scenarios

Question 10

E-practical considerations - anger is assessed via what? by who? why is this bad?

Answer 10

anger is assessed via self-report/observations by the prison staff. results are open to social desirability bias/observer bias, or p’s may try to portray themselves in a positive light after therapy to show it worked

Question 11

E-practical considerations - who does it? cost? what needs to be present for it to work?

Answer 11

needs a trained professional, makes it costly and is lengthy (TEP doesn’t need pros), needs motivation for p’s to participate

Question 12

E-ethical considerations - drop out rates? how is this prevented? what does it reduce? who can’t run it and why? what aim isn’t met?

Answer 12

there are high drop out rates if offenders don’t like to reflect/find it hard to change behaviours. prevented using screening beforehand to make sure p’s will benefit e.g. Anger Readiness to Change Questionnaire. reduces violence but prison officers can’t run it as may provoke more anger. victim isn’t focused on so retribution isn’t met which doesn’t deal with morality issues within the offender and they don’t learn about the harm they caused

Question 13

E-effectiveness - what did Ireland show? who showed a reduction in recidivism in high risk offenders? Taylor and Novaco found what improvement rates?

Answer 13

Ireland showed significant improvements in violent offenders after using it. Dowden et al showed a reduction in recidivism in high risk offenders. Taylor and Novaco found a 75% improvement rate

Question 14

E-effectiveness - what did McGuire find from long term studies? Loza - conducted research into what? why may AM be irrelevant? in a study of how many male offenders did they find no difference in what between who? what did Law find?

Answer 14

McGuire found from long term studies a better reduction in recidivism from AM compared to probation. Loza conducted research into whether anger leads to aggression. AM may be irrelevant if anger doesn’t lead to aggression. in a study of 300 male offenders they found no difference between anger in violent and non-violent offenders. Law found after an 8 session course, only one person improved