NCJ Number
215962
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 50 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 57-70
Date Published
February 2006
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article reports on an evaluation of a treatment program for 52 men imprisoned in 8 Spanish prisons for offenses of serious violence against women.
Abstract
The results obtained, even though modest, were encouraging. The most significant changes occurred with men who committed severe crimes and tended to minimize the violence or blame the victim. These changes occurred in cognitive distortions, attitudes toward hostility, and uncontrolled anger. The changes, together with an overall decrease in psychological symptoms, suggest a good prognosis for greater control of impulses and perceptions of women and the use of violence. The poorest treatment results involved men with a previous psychiatric history (even if they had no current mental disorders), severe symptoms at the beginning of the program, and extreme attitudes toward hostility. The intervention was a comprehensive treatment program based on a cognitive-behavioral model. It consisted of 20 2-hour group sessions. The program was tailored to the specific characteristics of each patient and focused on the modification of cognitive and behavioral features related to violence against women. The first three sessions focused on the acceptance of responsibility for the crime and motivation for therapy. The second part of treatment addressed the psychopathological symptoms typically associated with violent men, with attention to the development of empathy, skills training, anger management, and the modification of cognitive distortion related to the crime. The last phase of the program involved intervention for relapse prevention by identifying high-risk situations for violent behavior. Each group, with five to eight men, was directed by two therapists, one male and one female. The evaluation involved pretreatment and posttreatment assessments of the men, with the pretreatment assessment conducted during September and October 2001. The program lasted for 8 months, from November 2001 to June 2002. 6 tables and 50 references