Room 517-C | Research on Sexual Offenders Monday, July 11, 2005 Time: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM |
Assessment of In-Treatment Change with Sexual Offenders.
Looman, Jan*,1, Abracen, Jeffrey2, Harkins, Leigh3, 1 Regional Treatment Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Canada2 Correctional Service of Canada, Central District Parole, Toronto, Ontario, Canada3 School of Psychology, Edgbaston, Birmingham, Canada
ABSTRACT- The purpose of the present investigation is to idenify potential dynamic predictors of sexual re-offence by examining scores on a battery of psychometric instruments administered at pre and post-treatment in the Regional Treatment Centre Sexual Offender Treatment Program (RTCSOTP). Hanson (1997, 2000) suggested that while long-term outcome studies are useful, they do not tell us anything about the effectiveness of current interventions. He suggested that measuring within-treatment change dynamic factors is a more immediate measure of treatment effectiveness. The RTCSOTP provides assessment and treatment service to sexual offenders incarcerated in the Ontario Region of the Correctional Service of Canada. Treatment is provided only to those offenders who present a high risk to re-offend and who have a high level of treatment needs, thus this sample provides a unique opportunity to identify potential targets for intervention in a praticularly difficult client group. Measures include the Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI), the Adult Self Expression Inventory, the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, the Bumby Rape and Child Molester Cognitive Distorions Scales, The High Risk Situations Test, The Miller Social Intimacy Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, The Coping Using Sex Inventory, The Relapse Prevention Knowledge Test, the MAST and the DAST. The initial sample includes all sexual offenders who have been assessed by the RTCSOTP since 1992 (N=550), although some analyses will be restricted to a subsample of these. Analyses will examine the relationship between recidivism and pre-treatment and post-treatment scores separately. As well, the relationship between changes on these instruments and recidivism will be examined. Recidivism data were collected with reference to those clients who had been released and were at risk of re-offence. Changes from pre- to post-treatment will be examined by means of paired samples t-tests, while the relationship between psychometric measures and recidivism will be explored by means of Logistic Regression. Preliminary analyses (Looman, Abracen, & Harkins, 2004) have indicated that significant relationships between MSI sub-scale, the High Risk Situations test, the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, the MAST, and the Adult Self-Expreesion Scale and recidivism exist. Results will be discussed in terms of potential areas of intervention, effectiveness of treatment, and the potential impact of psychopathy (as measured by the PCL-R; Hare, 2003) on treatment outcome and the interpretation of test results.
Key words: sexual offenders, treatment, recidivism