CHAPTER NINE:

SHORT-TERM CHANGES FOLLOWING PARTICIPATION IN COGNITIVE SKILLS PROGRAMMES

PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT

In the current version of the SOTP it is intended that shortly before or shortly after completing the Core Programme offenders will also complete a Cognitive Skills programme. Two cognitive skills programmes are widely used in the Prison Service,

Although these programmes are considered relevant to a broad range of offenders they are especially relevant to sex offenders in that the crimogenic needs addressed by these programmes apply to many sex offenders and follow-up has shown that sex offenders are one of the groups for whom completion of cognitive skills impacts on re-offending (Robinson, 1995).

Of particular relevance is research showing that sex offenders tend to have poor cognitive empathy, especially in offence-related contexts, that they tend to be isolated, emotionally lonely and to have poor self-esteem. And that the more violent and difficult to treat offenders tend to be particularly impulsive.

As an earlier chapter showed these crimogenic needs are affected to some degree by completion of the Core Programme but the data reported there also showed that those with high needs in these areas had not made sufficient progress to achieve a normal profile. Completion of a Cognitive Skills Programme in addition to the Core Programme is designed to help these offenders to move closer to normal functioning.

Part of the quality control procedures which the Prison Service routinely employs as part of the proper implementation of Cognitive Skills Programmes is the administration of a standard battery of tests and behavioural ratings before and after prisoners complete the programme.

This chapter reports an analysis of these data looking at whether changes relevant to the needs of sex offenders, and especially the more violent sex offendcrs, are obtained,

METHOD

Sample

85 male prisoners completed an assessment battery before and shortly after completion of a Cognitive Skills Programme. As not all sites used all measures the numbers of particular variables can be much less than this. It is important to note that the prisoners were a mixed group, not just being sex offenders.

ASSESSMENT

The assessment battery included both a range of tests and questionnaires and behavioural ratings made by prison staff observing ordinary prison behaviour outside the treatment setting.

Of particular relevance here were

Most of the questionnaire measures used here have been demonstrated to distinguish offenders from comparison samples.

RESULTS

Following treatment, subjects completing the programme showed significantly

Table 1 gives details.

Table 1 - Changes following Cognitive Skills for the Overall Sample

Before

After

N

Significance level

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

Impulsive (Q data)

Impulsive (Ratings)

Egocentric (Ratings)

Empathy for women

Internal locus

Self-derogation 

Withdrawl

It is known that the proportion of sex offenders varied considerably between treatment sites. Unfortunately the data set does not distinguish sex offenders from the others. However, one of the sites ran the Thinking Skills Programme exclusively for sex offenders. That site did not use the behavioural ratings system but their results for the questionnaire measures are shown in table 2.

Table 2: Changes following Cognitive Skills for Sex Offender only Groups

Before

After

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

Impulsive (Q-data)

Empathy for women

Internal  locus

Self-derogation

Comparison between the two tables indicates that treatment effects were bigger for the sex offenders only group.

CONCLUSION

The data indicate that completion of a cognitive skills programme does produce changes in both rated prison behaviour and in psychometric test performance for the variables identified as being particularly relevant to sex offenders. And although most of the treatment sites have run the programme for offenders who have committed a range of non-sexual crimes, sex offenders were also represented at most sites and the results for the one sex-offender-only site indicated that sex offenders were at least as responsive as other inmates to the programme.

In sum then, the results suggest that completion of a Cognitive Skills Programme can usefully reinforce some of the benefits produced by participation in the SOTP Core Programme.

REFERENCE

Robinson. D. (1995) 'The impact of cognitive skills training on post-release recidivism among Canadian federal offenders'. Ottawa: Correctional Services of Canada.