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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:06 am
Time: 1:06 am
Results for offender rehabilitation (ohio)
1 results foundAuthor: Bickle, Gayle Title: An Intermediate Outcome Evaluation of the Thinking for a Change Program Summary: The research literature on effective offender programming shows that cognitive behavioral programming creates larger reductions in recidivism than other types of offender programming. In light of this evidence, the ODRC adopted the Thinking for a Change (TFAC) program. In 2009, the department encouraged every prison to implement the TFAC program. The program teaches problem-solving skills, particularly when interacting with others, in order to increase rational thinking and lead to pro-social interactions and behaviors. In addition, through cognitive restructuring (aka, cognitive self-change), thought processes are modified to reduce thinking patterns that are conducive to criminal behavior, i.e., antisocial attitudes. This evaluation uses a quasi-experimental, non-random, two group pre-test post-test design, and it explores intermediate outcomes that examine whether the program has influenced participant's self-assessment of their social problem-solving skills and approaches and their acceptance of criminal attitudes. The Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised (SPSI-R) and the Texas Christian University Criminal Thinking Scales (CTS) were used to measure these components of the program. The findings are as follows: -Analyzing the SPSI-R data using GLMM (Generalized Linear Mixed Modeling), we find that, compared to a waiting list comparison group, TFAC group completers do significantly better than their comparison group counterparts on every measure, including positive problem orientation, negative problem orientation, rational problem solving and associated subscales (problem definition and formulation, generation of alternative solutions, decision making, solution implementation and verification), impulsivity/carelessness style, and avoidance style. Moreover, the level of significance of these findings indicates that TFAC does impact participants- understanding of social problem solving skills and approaches. Analyzing the TCU-CTS data using GLMM, we find that TFAC group completers do significantly better (p<.001) than their comparison group counterparts on all but one criminal thinking scale (measuring coldheartedness). The scales where TFAC completers do significantly better include entitlement, justification, power orientation, criminal rationality, personal irresponsibility, and the total criminal thinking score. The findings indicate that TFAC participants appear to reduce (or at least not increase) their acceptance of criminal attitudes when compared to non-participants. -Interaction effects were found between risk level and TFAC group participants on the SPSI-R survey, indicating the following: -Higher risk treatment group members showed significantly more improvement than those in the lower risk comparison group on all but one scale (avoidance style), including positive problem orientation, negative problem orientation, rational problem solving and associated subscales (problem definition and formulation, generation of alternative solutions, decision making, solution implementation and verification), and impulsivity/carelessness style. Lower risk treatment group members showed significantly more improvement on all of the scales than their lower risk comparison counterparts. Details: Columbus, OH: Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction. Bureau of Research and Evaluation, 2014. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2015 at: http://www.drc.ohio.gov/web/Reports/Eval_ThinkingforaChange.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.drc.ohio.gov/web/Reports/Eval_ThinkingforaChange.pdf Shelf Number: 135331 Keywords: Behavior ModificationCognitive Skills TrainingCorrectional ProgramsOffender Rehabilitation (Ohio)Problem-Solving SkillsTreatment Programs |