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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:27 pm
Time: 8:27 pm
Results for male sex offenders
1 results foundAuthor: Corabian, Paula Title: Treatment for Convicted Adult Male Sex Offenders Summary: Sexual offending has become a major challenge for social policy because of the high human and financial costs to victims and the social and health services as well as the high public investment in policing, prosecuting, and incarcerating sex offenders. There is an expectation that the correctional systems should make reasonable efforts to reduce the potential that convicted sex offenders will reoffend. One common approach to sex offenders’ management in countries with developed market economies is to provide specialized treatment programs. A number of different sex offender treatment (SOT) programs have been developed and are currently operating, but there continues to be controversy regarding how well they work. To evaluate the effectiveness of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy interventions delivered within SOT programs to reduce the likelihood of reoffending in convicted adult male sex offenders. Eight systematic reviews (SRs) conducted on the effectiveness of SOT interventions and programs met the inclusion criteria of this overview. All eight SRs focused on the use of psychotherapy for convicted sex offenders, whereas one also included surgical castration and hormonal medication. In these studies there was considerable variability in how interventions were classified, the types of sex offenders involved, and the definition of outcomes. According to the reviewed evidence, studies in the area of SOT outcome research have improved over the past 10 years. However, the need for more rigour remains. The following are highlights from the reviewed evidence. —— Although the debate in the scientific literature on what SOT interventions and programs are most effective for convicted adult male sex offenders remains, the results from seven moderate- to-high quality SRs show small but statistically significant reductions in sexual and general recidivism rates among convicted adult male sex offenders treated with various cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches. —— The most recently published high quality SR found that SOT programs using CBT approaches that adhered to the risk/need/responsivity (RNR) model for offender assessment and rehabilitation were most effective in reducing the risk of recidivism in convicted male sexual offenders. On average, programs that followed all three RNR principles reported recidivism rates that were less than half the recidivism rates for comparison groups. In contrast, there was no effect on recidivism rates for programs that did not follow the RNR model. Confidence in these findings, however, must be tempered as the available evidence is based mostly on poor quality primary research studies. —— Although one SR of moderate quality reported promising results on the use of hormonal treatments as an adjuvant to psychotherapy, wellconducted and reported controlled studies are needed to establish the effectiveness of adjuvant hormonal treatment to reduce the risk of recidivism among sex offenders. —— Overall, the results reported by the selected SRs provide little direction regarding how to improve current treatment practices. • It is still not clear whether all sex offenders require treatment or whether current interventions are more appropriate for certain subgroups and typologies of offenders. • There are still uncertainties regarding the most useful elements and components of a SOT program for convicted adult male sex offenders. • There is no clear answer on whether the setting of the SOT program affects its impact on recidivism rates. While the evidence from seven moderate-to-high quality SRs suggests that SOT has the potential to reduce sexual and nonsexual recidivism, the reported findings provide stronger support for the effectiveness of CBT approaches and for programs adhering to the RNR model. Any conclusions drawn from this overview of SRs remain tentative. Given the methodological problems of the available primary research, it is difficult to draw strong conclusions about the effectiveness of SOT programs using various CBT approaches for such a heterogeneous population. The reviewed evidence does not provide clear answers to what are the components of an optimal SOT program and to whether where the program is delivered matters. All SRs concluded that more and better research is needed to clearly answer these questions. Details: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Institute of Health Economics, 2010. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 11, 2012 at: http://www.ihe.ca/documents/Treatment%20for%20Convicted%20Adult%20Male%20Sex%20Offenders.pdf Year: 2010 Country: International URL: http://www.ihe.ca/documents/Treatment%20for%20Convicted%20Adult%20Male%20Sex%20Offenders.pdf Shelf Number: 126676 Keywords: Male Sex OffendersRecidivismSex Offender TreatmentTreatment Programs |