Howells et al. (2005)

Question 1

aims

Answer 1

is anger management more effective than no treatment in producing change

to investigate whether offender characteristics can help predict the effectiveness of the treatment

Question 2

sample

Answer 2

418 Australian male offenders
mean age 29
sentences ranging from 1 month to 26 years

Question 3

What kind of crime did the majority of the participants commit?

Answer 3

42% committed violence without bodily harm.

Question 4

What kind of crime did the lowest percentile of ppts commit?

Answer 4

6% committed injuries causing death.

Question 5

What percentage of the participants hadn’t completed an anger management programme before?

Answer 5

73%

Question 6

3 examples of questionnaires and what they measured

Answer 6

1) STAXI
- How the offender’s anger is expressed
2) WAKS
- Understanding of how to deal with their anger
3) STRS
- Treatment readiness

Question 7

generalisability

Answer 7

P - High
E - 418 ppts is a large sample
E - Generalisable to wider population

P - Low
E - Only used men
E - Sample is androcentric and so not representative of females.

Question 8

reliability

Answer 8

P - High
E - Standardised programme that involves 10 two hour sessions with focus on identifying triggers
E - Can be replicated easily to test for consistency as all programmes were delivered the same way

P - Low
E - Control group showed similar improvements as treatment group
E - Questions reliability of whether treatment works and so may be ineffective

Question 9

application

Answer 9

P - Yes
E - Showed that there were no significant differences pre and post treatment however those who were motivated to change showed greatest improvement
E - Therefore this could be useful to inform those designing the programmes about the importance of treatment readiness on the outcome

Question 10

validity

Answer 10

P - High
E - Range of scales like WAKS and STRS to measure things such as aggressive traits, the intensity, and motivation to change
E - This means that data is rich in qualitative and quantitative forms
P - Low
E - Uses self-report data such as ppts stating their understanding of how to deal with aggression effectively in the WAKS scale
E - This data will be open to social desirability as many want to look better than they are because some may have been forced onto the programme

Question 11

ethics

Answer 11

P - Good
E - The control group were still offered the anger management programme 2 weeks afterwards
E - This ensures that all ppts benefit from taking part