Treatments for offenders: Cognitive behvaioural treatment Flashcards
What is anger management?
A form of cognitive behavioural treatment in which (violent) offenders are encouraged to recognise what triggers their anger, as well as being taught techniques to help them regulate their behaviour. The approach assumes that anger is one possible cause of offending behaviour
From a behaviourist perspective, how is anger reinforced?
By the offenders feelings of control that anger gives them in a situation.
How does anger link to cognitive behaviour?
The offender’s appraisal of a situation acts as a trigger for anger
What are the 3 phases involved in anger management?
- Cognitive preparation
- Skill acquisition
- Application and practice
What happens in cognitive preparation?
Working with a trained therapist, the offenders reflects on situations that could have angered them in the past and consider whether they could have reacted differently.
What is Skill acquisition?
Offenders learn behavioural techniwues to help them cope. May involve just simple ways of coping.
“Self talk” promotes calmness rather than aggression and becomes an automatic response if practised regulary.
Some strategies deal with physiology of anger aim to control emotions not be controlled by them
What is application and practice?
The offender demonstrates their new skills
Reconstruct past events when the offender lost control
This tests whether the new techniques have been internalised
What did Ireland’s study of anger management show?
- Offenders were allocated to Treatment group or control group (waitlist)
- Interviews/ questionnaires and behaviour checklist were used as measure
- 92% of treatment group showed significant improvement on at least one measure
- 48% showed improvement on questionnaire and beavioural checklist
- Control group showed no improvement
- So, AM is more effective than no treatment and most effective for those with a history of violence
How does Frank show AM in to be ineffective?
Evaluated an anger management programme in a US detention facility, aiming to assess its effectiveness and participant experiences. The programme, which also addressed substance abuse, was a seven-week psycho-educational course attended by 74 offenders. Only 31 of these completed both pre- and post-group assessments, measuring motivation to change and self-reported anger levels.
Although the programme increased participants’ motivation to address anger, Frank found no significant changes in anger levels post-treatment. This mirrored Howells et al. (2005), who also reported limited effectiveness but noted improved anger knowledge among participants. Frank’s study also highlighted differences in outcomes between Spanish and English-speaking detainees, suggesting a need to consider linguistic and cultural factors.
What did Watt and Howells evaluate about the Skills Training for Aggression Control programme for violent offenders in Australia?
They conducted two studies involving adult male inmates (39 participants in one and 50 in the other), using a pre- and post-test design and a waitlist control group. In a pre- and post-test design, participants are measured on key variables both before and after the intervention to assess any changes due to the treatment. The waitlist control group involves participants who are scheduled to receive the treatment later, allowing researchers to compare outcomes between those currently in the programme and those still waiting.
The measures used in this study included anger knowledge, trait anger, anger expression, observed aggression, and prison misconduct. The second study specifically examined whether offenders with higher levels of trait anger would benefit more from the programme. However, similar to other studies, Watt and Howells found no significant treatment effects between the STAC group and the waitlist control group, even among those with higher trait anger, leading them to question the programme’s usefulness for violent offenders.
