FP - Dealing with offending behaviour: Anger management Flashcards
What are the ways of dealing with offending behaviour?
Custodial sentencing and recidivism
Behaviour modification in custody - token economy
Anger management
Restorative justice programmes
What is the cognitive approach in dealing with offending behaviour?
Anger management
Anger management
A form of cognitive behavioural therapy specific to changing the way way a person manages their anger. Techniques include cognitive restructuring, skill acquisition and behavioural training.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
A combination of cognitive therapy (a way of changing maladaptive thoughts and beliefs) and behavioural therapy (a way of changing behaviour in response to these thoughts and beliefs).
What are the 2 aims of the use of anger management with prisoners?
A short-term aim of reducing anger and aggression in prisons where it is a serious issue.
Longer-term aim of rehabilitation and reduction of recidivism.
Who is associated with anger management?
Raymond Novaco
What did Novaco (2013) describe prisons as?
‘Efficient anger factories’.
Why did Novaco (2013) describe prisons as ‘efficient anger factories’?
Due to the social climate (violent inmates, overcrowding and a tendency towards a hostile attribution bias or other irrational ways of thinking which can benefit from cognitive therapy).
Who is a longer-term aim in anger management especially beneficial for?
Violent prisoners.
What is the aim of anger management in general?
To change the way a person handles anger and aggression.
What does cognitive therapy accept?
That the situation itself may not be changeable but a person can change the way they think about it and thus change their behaviour. The therapy is one of ‘management’.
What were the 3 aims for any anger management programme identified by Novaco (2011)?
Cognitive restructuring
Regulation of arousal
Behavioural strategies
Explain Novaco’s aim of cognitive restructuring
Greater self-awareness and control over cognitive dimensions of anger.
Explain Novaco’s aim of regulation of arousal
Learning to control the physiological state.
Explain Novaco’s aim of behavioural strategies
Such as problem solving skills, strategic withdrawal and assertiveness.
What model is used in anger management?
Stress inoculation model (Novaco 1975, 1977).
What does stress inoculation aim to do?
Provide a kind of vaccine against future ‘infections’.
How is therapy based on the stress inoculation model done (briefly)?
Therapy tends to be conducted with a group of offenders either inside prison or outside, for example during a probation period.
What are the 3 key steps of the stress inoculation model of anger management?
Calm People Should Avoid Angry People
Cognitive preparation
Skill acquisition
Application practice/training
Explain the cognitive preparation stage of anger management
In the initial phase, clients learn about anger generally, how it can be both adaptive and non-adaptive. They analyse their own patterns of anger and identify situations which provoke anger in them.
Explain the skill acquisition stage of anger management
In the second phase, clients are taught various skills to help manage their anger, such as self-regulation, cognitive flexibility and relaxation. They are also taught better communication skills so they can resolve conflicts assertively without being angry.
Explain the application practice/training stage of anger management
Clients apply the skills initially in controlled and non-threatening situations such as role plays of situations that previously made them angry. They receive extensive feedback from the therapist and other group members. Later clients can try out their skills in real world settings.
Give examples of anger management programmes with offenders
Jane Ireland, 2004
Jane Ireland (2004) assess the effectiveness of an anger management therapy with 87 young male offenders. A baseline measure was made assessing pre-intervention anger (using a self-report questionnaire) and also each participant was assessed by prison officers. An experimental group of 52 part in the treatment programme, while the other 37 were placed on a waiting list. The treatment consisted of 12 one hour sessions over 3 days.
8 weeks after the treatment all participants were reassessed using the questionnaire and also assessed by prison officers. The study found significant improvements in the experimental group and no changes in the control group over that period of time.
Give examples of anger management programmes with offenders
Timothy Trimble et al., 2015
Timothy Trimble et al. (2015) reported on an anger management programme with 105 offenders on probation in Northern Ireland. It was a condition of their probation that they attend an anger management programme.
The programme did not include offenders who had a poor history of anger and aggressive behaviour alone. It included those whose anger and poor emotional control predisposed them to offend.
The programme was conducted across a range of centres. There were 9 weekly sessions lasting 2 hours, with a 15-minute break.
It was found that the programme significantly reduced the expression of anger as well as the amount of anger experienced among offenders compared to their pre-treatment scores.
