Rehabilitation von Straftätern

The German correctional treatment in prison, social therapeutic units and social therapy capitalizes on therapeutic interventions developed in English-speaking countries, which are based on the risk-need-responsivity model (RNR). However, this approach is rarely discussed in the German literature. The present article aims at filling this gap by illustrating the basic assumptions, strengths and limitations of the RNR model. Moreover, this presentation highlights the usefulness of the RNR model for the treatment of offenders.     

Die Rehabilitation von Straftätern

The rehabilitation of offenders in English-speaking countries is primarily guided by a risk management framework (the risk-need-responsivity principles: RNR model), which aims at reducing the possibility of harm to the community rather than improving offenders’ quality of life. In the last decade Tony Ward and his colleagues have developed the good lives model of offender rehabilitation (GLM) as an alternative to the RNR model. The GLM incorporates the RNR principles of risk, need and responsivity into its theoretical structure while aiming to provide a more constructive and comprehensive approach to correctional practice. More specifically, it aims to both reduce risk while enhancing the quality of offenders’ lives. The present article aims at outlining the general, etiological assumptions and practice implications of the GLM. In addition, its strengths and limitations and evidence base are reported. These illustrations highlight the usefulness of the GLM for the treatment of offenders and sex offenders in particular.     

Stationäre Rehabilitation alkoholabhängiger Patienten

Systemic therapy concepts are widely used in therapy and rehabilitation of alcohol addictive patients. Although very useful in practice, evaluation studies are rare. Adequate evaluation strategies should be developed and implemented. This study was realized in a clinical rehabilitation centre (Hirtenstein, Allgäu/Germany), whose systemic concept is characterized by patient's wideranged possibilities of choice concerning therapy measures and therapy goals, the activation of social and personal resources, the development of an individually appropriate life-style, the training of desired competencies, and an offer for marital and family therapy. The evaluation is based on a repeated measures design without control group. The instruments and constructs of the evaluation are: F-SOZU (perceived social support), IIP (perceived interpersonal problems), MLDL (quality of life), SOC (sense of coherence), and an assessment sheet for personal resources (RI). Patients (n= 44) reported increased personal ressources as well as an increased level of quality of life. Perceived social support and the sense of coherence changed only moderately. Scaling of treatment satisfaction and goal attainment at the end of the rehabilitation program resulted in high positive scores. Patients reported only positive, no negative treatment side effects. The results indicate the usefulness of systemic and resource oriented concepts in the rehabilitation of alcohol addictive patients.     

Therapieverläufe von Sexualstraftätern

Throughout the past decades evaluation studies on sexual offender treatment have led to controversies. While numerous studies examined the effectiveness of different interventions, the possible underlying mediating mechanisms have largely been neglected. This study took a multimethod approach to investigate the measurability of change processes in sexual offenders serving a sentence in the social therapeutic institution (SothA) of the detention center in Tegel, Germany (n?=?105). A longitudinal design with three groups (i.e. waiting group, treatment group and day release group) from four perspectives on change processes (i.e. external criminal prognostic assessment, therapists’ view, staff observation and clients’ perspective) was employed. Most criminal prognostic risk and protective factors improved over the course of treatment and this effect was smallest in the waiting group. While therapists reported increased therapeutic constraints in the course of treatment, they were more favorable in the criminal prognosis and detected more differentiated patterns of needs and resources of clients as conceptualized by the primary and secondary assets of the good lives model (GLM). In contrast, during the course of treatment the sexual offenders showed an increased awareness of the criminogenically relevant problems in the sexual domain. Nonetheless, the overall number of problems they identified as criminogenically relevant decreased. The internal problem attribution in the sense of internal causes (“It is my fault”) and capability of change (“Only I can solve the problem”) was increased. The stronger the clients’ perception of own problems in the sexual context increased over the course of treatment, the more positive the change in the staff’s view of their behavior became and the more their dynamic risk factors improved. Overall, this study found strong evidence that change processes in SothA might already be detectable during ongoing social treatment. It is currently uncertain whether these changes influence future recidivism. A comparison with recidivism data is necessary and in planning.     

Partnerschaften von Sexualstraftätern

Intimate relationships of convicted and released sexual offenders have hardly been the topic of systematic research. This article presents a systematic review of this topic. Only nine articles were found in a systematic literature search which investigated this topic with qualitative and quantitative methods. These studies were dominated by the determination of multiple deficits in the sexual offenders, such as intimacy and empathy problems, high frequencies of conflicts and aggression in the relationships as well as social isolation of the female partners. The female partners of sexual offenders also showed a high tendency to denial and minimization similar to the offenders and blamed the victims for the offence. The women seemed to like their status as a “martyred wife” and gave their husbands a “second chance in life”. However, the currently available studies have barely investigated the “sexual offender couple” and the dynamics of their relationship to elucidate stabilizing factors. In a pilot study on the topic of “partnerships of sexual offenders” 17 “sex offender couples” were questioned by interviews and questionnaires to collate the dynamics of the partnership, which was published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy. In the quantitative results it was found that the female partners of sex offenders predominantly demonstrated an insecure preoccupied attachment style and this influence on the relationship stability is discussed. Further studies are needed in this field of research to gain detailed data of “sex offender couples” for relapse prevention and therapeutic implications.     

Additivitätseffekte von Konfliktalternativen

Zusammenfassung Ausgehend von einem Modell von Feger u. Sorembe (1972) über Zusammenhänge zwischen Reaktionsvariablen bei Entscheidungen wurden nach dem von Bechtel (1971) vorgelegten Skaliermodell additive Effekte von Konfliktalternativen bei erlebnisdeskriptiven Variablen und bei der Entscheidungszeit überprüft. Insgesamt 140 Vpn wurden acht Alternativen in Zweierkombinationen vorgelegt. Dabei sollte die bevorzugte Alternative angegeben werden und danach mit Hilfe von Ratingskalen die Wichtigkeit, Konfidenz, Konfliktstärke und der Wunsch nach weiterer Information eingestuft werden. Die Entscheidungszeit wurde von den Vpn unbemerkt gemessen.Für die Variablen Entscheidungszeit, Konfliktstärke und Konfidenz konnte die Hypothese beibehalten werden, daß sich die mittleren Zeiten bzw. Ratings für einen Konflikt additiv zusammensetzen aus der Kombination je eines Wertes pro Alternative. Aus den hohen Interkorrelationen zwischen den Skalenwerten der Alternativen für Entscheidungszeit, Konfliktstärke und Konfidenz wurde geschlossen, daß die Anzahl der Folgeantizipationen das diese Variablen gemeinsam beeinflussende Prozeßcharakteristikum ist.

---

Additivity effects of conflicting alternatives

Summary In a model of conflict behavior Feger and Sorembe (1972) recently explained the relationships found between dependent variables in decision-making situations by assuming an underlying anticipation process. The model implied for example that the decision time is a function of an additive combination of the time spent anticipating the consequences for each of the alternatives in conflict. By applying Bechtels (1971) scaling model it was tested whether the assumption of additive effects of the alternatives was correct. 140 majors in psychology acted as Ss in real conflicts, the alternatives of which were related to a new examination regulation.It was not possible to reject the additivity hypothesis for the variables decision time, rated conflict strength and rated confidence. It is doubtful for our data whether Bechtel's scaling model is really applicable to rated subjective importance of the decision and rated desire for further information on the alternatives. The scale values of the conflict alternatives were intercorrelated for all variables. The high correlations between the scale values for decision time, rated conflict strength and confidence were explained by assuming the number of anticipations to be the common process characteristic of these variables.

---

---

Die Arbeit wurde mit Unterstützung der DFG durchgeführt. Das Bechtel-Programm wurde von Herrn Dipl.-Psych. E. D. Lantermann zur Verfügung gestellt.     

Lebensqualität von ärztlichen und psychologischen Psychotherapeuten

In a large empirical cross-sectional study the quality of life of medical and psychological psychotherapists ( n =71, respectively n =103) was examined as well as the influence of the different therapeutic methods used. Instruments used were the Questionnaire on Quality of Life of Physicians (Reimer and Jurkat 2003) respectively the Questionnaire on Quality of Life of Psychologists (Jurkat and Reimer 2003) as well as the SF-36 Health Survey (Bullinger and Kirchberger 1998). The majority of participants in both samples are satisfied with their life. Psychological psychotherapists are comparatively more content with their work situation and judge their own health more positively than their medical colleagues do. Both groups feel their income situation to be a loss in quality of life. A common fear is an even greater bureaucratic burden and financial deterioration. Thus it seems that psychohygienic measures and secure job perspectives may contribute to raising the quality of life of psychotherapists.     

Ambulante Behandlung von Sexualstraftätern

Treatment of sexual offenders is still a controversial issue for both forensic clinical practice and research. The methods to evaluate efficacy and effectiveness in the field of forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy show many distinctive characteristics. Especially outpatient treatment of sexual offenders takes place in a conflict of interest. This article aims to illustrate several potentials and difficulties in the field of sexual offender treatment using the example of the Hamburg Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).     

Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker

Ohne Zusammenfassung

---

Über räumliche Wirkungen von Helligkeitsgefällen

Ohne Zusammenfassung Mit 2 Textabbildungen.     

Qualitätssicherung von Gerichtsgutachten im Familienrecht

In recent years many controversial verdicts and studies have brought discussions about the quality of expert opinions in family law into the focus of the media, political and expert public spheres. With the coalition contract, the ruling parties agreed on improving the quality of expert opinions, especially in the sector of family law, in collaboration with professional institutions. Representatives of the legal, psychological and medical associations, the Federal Bar Association and the Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists worked out guidelines for expert opinions in family law in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection. The three main quality assurance aspects are scientifically founded procedures, transparency and traceability. These requirements are concretely illustrated in this article with recommendations concerning the procedure and composition of expert opinions.     

Einsatz von Bupropion bei älteren Patienten

Die chronische bipolare Depression bei ?lteren Menschen ist eine klinische Herausforderung und erfordert unter Umst?nden, wie der vorliegende Fallbericht zeigt, Behandlungswege, die von Leitlinien nicht unbedingt abgedeckt werden.     

Zur Häufigkeit der Schuldfähigkeitsbegutachtung von Sexualstraftätern im Erkenntnisverfahren

This study investigated how often and depending on which factors sexual offenders are examined by mental health experts regarding their criminal responsibility. Out of a total of 306 legal charges against sex offenders accused of child sexual abuse (CSA: n?=?145), rape or sexual assault (n?=?89), exhibitionism (n?=?39), sexual abuse of adolescents, mentally defective, physically helpless or warded persons (n?=?18) that were admitted by a criminal court in 2001 in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, 209 (95.6 %) were analyzed regarding the following questions: how often was the accused examined by a mental health professional regarding mental responsibility? Was the chance of being examined systematically related to certain factors (e.g., personality of the accused)? Expert advice regarding the mental responsibility of the accused was obtained by the court in only 34 cases (11.7 %). No systematic relationships of personal variables as well as the modus operandi and the chance of commissioning a mental health expert were found. The main reason for assigning a forensic expert opinion was the vague impression of a psychic disorder. Re-offending increased the rate of a mental health examination only in CSA (34.6 % of re-offenders were examined compared to 9.2 % of first-time offenders), but not in rape or sexual assault. Also age does not predict the commissioning of an expert opinion. Only one fifth of all accused below the age of 21 were investigated by a mental health professional. Results are discussed in terms of legal background, consequences for risk assessment and relapse prevention.     

Zur Problematik der Suchtgefährdung von berufstätigen Medizinern

Two samples of working physicians have been compared in a cross-sectional study – one representative sample of addicted physicians with a substance abuse problem (n=142) and one representative sample (n=275) of physicians in general; the objective was to develop preventive strategies. As a measuring instrument a specific questionnaire on quality of life of physicians (Reimer and Jurkat) has been used. Generally, quality of life is lower in the substance abuse sample in comparison to the control group. It can be concluded that the variables concerning the areas life satisfaction/-dissatisfaction and health differentiate even more between the groups than the areas work satisfaction/-dissatisfaction and choice of occupation. Whereas quality of life of female physicians was on the average somewhat higher than that of their male colleagues in the control group, this could not be confirmed in the sample of impaired physicians. Especially the ability to relax seems to be essential as a preventive measure, and apparently it is of high importance for working physicians to care for an adequate and satisfying private life to balance their stressful working life.     

Individuelle Lernstrategien von Totenkopfäffchen bei der Diskriminierung von visuellen Sequenzen

Zusammenfassung Durch 5 Lehrprogramme wurden Totenkopfäffchen in einer instrumentellen Verhaltenssituation darauf trainiert, Sequenzen von zwei Lichtern (weiß und blau; A und B) voneinander zu unterscheiden. In Programm 5 wurden alle 4 Permutationen der Elemente A und B, also AB, BA, AA und BB als Lichtreize verwendet. Die Beantwortung von B in AB wurde belohnt.Die Analyse der Strategien der Tiere in Programm 5 ergab verschiedene Strategien für verschiedene Tiere bei der Konfrontation mit den verschiedenen Sequenzen trotz des gleichen Vortrainings der Tiere: Zufallsbeantwortung, Beantwortung des zweiten Lichtes der Sequenzen, Beantwortung von B in 2. Position, Beantwortung nach jedem Stimulus A und jedes Stimulus A in 1. Position.Von 7 Tieren erreichten 4 die für diese Diskriminierung notwendige Strategie Beantwortung von B nach Stimulus A.3 Tiere verbliehen bis zum Schluß in der Strategie Beantwortung nach einem Stimulus A in 1. Position, die eine Vorstufe der Sequenzendiskriminierung darstellt.Durch die durchgeführte Analyse ist auch eine Beurteilung von Beantwortungsschemata möglich, die noch keine Diskriminierung von Sequenzen darstellen und damit eine Beurteilung dessen ermöglicht, was einem Versuchttier von der dargebotenen Information relevant geworden ist. Das Verhaltensmodell ist entwickelt zur Verwendung bei verschiedenen Manipulationen im Zentralnervensystem (Ausschaltungen, Psychopharmaka), bei den Effekten in den zeitlichen Parametern des Lernprozesses zu erwarten sind oder beurteilt werden sollen.

---

Individual learning strategies for discrimination between visual sequences in squirrel monkeys

Summary Squirrel monkeys were trained to discriminate between the four permutations of a two-element sequence of colored lights (white and blue, A-B). Five teaching programs were developed to direct the animals' activity in an instrumental behavioral situation. In Program 5 the animals were confronted with all possible sequences in randomized order and were only rewarded if they pressed a lever in the B-part of sequence AB.Analysis of the animals' strategies revealed different strategies in different animals when exposed to program 5, although the animals had undergone the same training previously: Random responding, responding to the second part of each sequence, responding to B in the second position of a sequence, responding after each stimulus A, and responding after each stimulus A in the first position of a sequence.Four out of 7 animals reached the necessary strategy for real discrimination of sequences, namely responding to B after a stimulus A.Three animals faited to advance beyond the strategy responding after a stimulus A in the first position of a sequence, which represents the closest strategy before real discrimination of the sequences.The analysis performed makes it possible to find out which cues the animals use in the performance of the task, even if the animal has not yet reached true discrimination between sequences.The experimental model has been developed for use as a sensitive instrument for the detection or assessment of changes in the temporal parameters of the learning process in experiments where manipulations of the central nervous system (lesions, drug) make such changes likely.