Howells et al (2005) Flashcards
Aims
To investigate whether anger management is more effective than no treatment in producing change
To investigate whether improvement in treatment can be predicted from pre-treatment
Sample
418 Australian male offenders
Sentences ranged from 1 month to 26 years and 4 months
Age range = 18-62
73% hadn’t completed AM program
What is a STAXI questionnaire?
Measures how the individual expresses their anger
What is a WAKS questionnaire?
Measures understanding of how to deal with their anger
What is the STRS questionnaire?
Measures treatment readiness
Procedure
AM program lasted 10 2 hour sessions
Based on Norace (1997) - structured exercises looking at skills of identifying provoking situations, relaxation, assertion, prevention of relapse and restructuring
During this time, ppts completed a checklist of content covered
Pets in experimental and control answered 6 different questionnaires through self-report (WAKS to measure how to deal with anger and STRS to measure treatment readiness
Those in control group were put on waiting list & received treatment after the study
Why was it important for a facilitator and participant to complete a checklist of each of the sessions conducted?
To demonstrate and check what was covered to ensure the sessions were carried out as per the manual to provide the content they should
Results
No statistically significant differences between pre-treatment and post treatment HOWEVER those who were motivated to change improved the most
Slight improvement for those in treatment condition where gains could be seen 2 months after
Treatment group improved by 1.5 in controlling anger compared to 0.5 increase for control
Treatment group improved by 1.8 in their understanding of anger compared to 0.95 increase for control
Conclusions
Overall impact of AM program was small
Offenders who were motivated to change showed greatest improvements and those who were poorly motivated showed less or no change
Generalisability
HIGH - 418 = large sample = more gen. to wider population
LOW - only used men - androcentric and not rep. of females
Reliability
HIGH - Standardized program (10 2 hour sessions with focus of identifying triggers) - can be replicated easily as all were delivered same way
LOW - Control group showed similar improvements as treatment group - questions reliability of whether treatment works so may be ineffective
Application
YES - Showed no sig. differences pre and post treatment but motivated ppts showed greatest improvements - could be useful to inform those designing programmes about importance of treatment readiness
Validity
HIGH - Range of scales (WAKS & STRS) to measure things such as aggressive traits, the intensity and motivation to change - data = rich in quant and qual data
LOW - Self report data such as ppts stating their understanding of their aggression = potential to social desirability
Ethics
SOUND - Control group still offered the AM program 2 weeks after = all ppts benefit from taking part
