17.1.23

Effectiveness of Behavioural Treatments

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The Effectiveness of Anger Management: Limitations

A study by Howells et al. (2005) found that anger management did not have significant effect.

Reasons for failure

Reasons for failure

  • As with any therapy programme, anger management is not always successful.
  • This can be due to a variety of factors such as:
    • The prison environment.
    • The willingness of the participant.
    • The relationship between therapist and patient.
    • The amount/length of the programme.
Limits to application

Limits to application

  • Additionally not all crimes are committed on the basis of anger and aggression.
    • For example, fraud or theft may be due to other factors, not anger.
  • Therefore, it is unlikely that this form of treatment would help those offenders.
__Howells et al. (2005)__

Howells et al. (2005)

  • A study conducted by Howells et al. (2005) on Australian offenders found that anger management therapy did not significantly reduce the amount of self-reported anger.

The Effectiveness of Anger Management: Ireland (2000)

Ireland (2000) found that anger management was effective.

Method:

Method:

  • The study was conducted with 50 young offenders at an institution.
  • Ireland studied aggression levels two weeks prior to the induction of the anger management.
  • Each prisoner’s aggressive behaviour was recorded over one week.
  • Each prisoner also completed a cognitive-style interview and a questionnaire.
Treatment

Treatment

  • The treatment programme consisted of 12 one hour sessions over three days.
  • 8 weeks after the treatment programme, the same measurements were completed.
Results:

Results:

  • Ireland found that in 92% of participants, there was an improvement.
  • In 8% of participants, the aggressive behaviour worsened.
Conclusions:

Conclusions:

  • For the vast majority, the anger management therapy was useful in the short-term in treating aggressive behaviour.
Evaluation:

Evaluation:

  • There were many extraneous variables that were difficult to control for such as:
    • Interaction of friends and family.
    • Interaction between prisoners and other inmates and the staff.
  • These could have had effects on the inmate’s anger.
Evaluation cont.:

Evaluation cont.:

  • The study was conducted on inmates in an institution, therefore, it would be difficult to generalise the results to the general public, other groups such as released offenders or offenders in other types of prisons.
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